


lost time

by courageinmyconvinctions



Series: Lost Time [1]
Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, it's basically a drew starkey AU honestly, this is NOT canon rafe, we don't appreciate him in this house, we love college AUs around here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27827767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/courageinmyconvinctions/pseuds/courageinmyconvinctions
Summary: rafe cameron and sophie flint had known each other since high school back in the outer banks, and they had never - ever - gotten along. if you asked either one of them where the mutual contempt started, they wouldn’t be able to pinpoint a specific moment. sophie liked arguing (and instigating) just for fun while rafe liked proving his arrogance. when they’re paired together as group partners for a debate class at ohio state university, they’re forced to reconcile their differences - and finally get to know each other.
Relationships: Rafe Cameron/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Lost Time [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2036605
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> a/n: while this features rafe, he is almost completely non-canon in this series! no murder none of him being awful. also welcome to my new series - I hope you enjoy 😌
> 
> warnings: drinking, cursing, mentions of sex

“You’re not seriously taking that.” 

Sophie Flint stopped dead in her tracks at the low, slightly amused voice that echoed down the hall. She had the Delta Tau Delta fraternity composite tucked precariously under her arm, which was definitely not fair game, but she had a mission to complete. 

* * *

She wasn’t exactly sure why it was a thing for sorority girls to steal things from frat houses. T-shirts, baseball caps, a fraternity composite if you were feeling particularly bold. But in a fun competition her friends on her dorm floor had concocted at the beginning of freshman year, she and her friends had made it their personal mission to collect at least one item from every fraternity, all 27 at Ohio State University. It was the start of her junior year and she hadn’t taken anything but a couple shack shirts so far (and was immediately told that was cheating), but a little pressure from her friends, a Delt party and a handful of White Claws made it the optimal time to act. Go big or go home, right? 

She turned, slowly and put on her flirtiest smile - and dropped the look the second she saw who it was. “Cameron.” Sophie acknowledged him with a mere nod, then started walking straight past him. 

Rafe snagged the edge of the composite immediately, tugging her backward. “Flint. Did you not hear me?” 

She rolled her eyes, keeping a firm grip on the composite. “Heard you loud and clear. Just not listening. I need this.” 

“What could you possibly need a fraternity composite for?” He questioned with raised eyebrows. 

“That’s for me to know and you to not find out.” She told him with a smug expression, curling her fingers tighter around the heavy frame. 

Rafe debated his options. He could let the girl go with a definitely stolen composite that would be kind of a hassle to replace, and let one of the pledges manning the door deal with it. Or he could argue more and watch the way her eyes grew bright and hear her little huff when she disagreed and - nah, it wasn’t worth it. 

He dropped his hand from the frame and lifted it in surrender, his other hand gripped loosely around a red solo cup. “I’m too drunk for this.” (He wasn’t.) “As long as you promise you won’t steal anything else.” 

She smirked. “I don’t make promises.” With that, she was on her way with the prearranged route - down the fire escape by the back hallway on the third floor, where her roommates waited not-so-patiently in the parking lot. 

___________

Rafe and Sophie had known each other since high school back in the Outer Banks, and they had never - ever - gotten along. He had gone to St. Andrew’s all-boys private school while she went to the sister school at Greenville Academy. Both grades were relatively small and students went to each other’s sporting events, combined for the yearly school play, and most importantly - threw parties together, often. The parties were always extravagant, alcohol flowing at some rich kid’s house with an excess of unsupervised teenagers milling around. 

If you asked either one of them where the mutual contempt started, they wouldn’t be able to pinpoint a specific moment. Sophie liked arguing (and instigating) just for fun while Rafe liked proving his arrogance. It was almost a guarantee at every high school party that at a certain point in the night, you could find them at each other’s throats, arguing over the dumbest thing possible. There was a point that it had evolved from coincidental arguments to seeking each other out to start a debate - no one else could go head to head with them quite like each other could - but they’d never willingly admit that.

___________

It had only taken them two weeks for their first argument in college. She strolled up to the makeshift bar in the sticky, dimly lit basement of Delta Tau Delta, way too confident for a freshman, and tapped on the pledge’s shoulder by the jungle juice to request a drink. Rafe Cameron turned around, wearing his backward baseball cap and signature smirk, and his face quickly morphed into shock. 

_“Sophie? What the fuck are you doing here?”_

_She crossed her arms, somehow already pissed off. They stuck to last names only, he knew that. That was their one unspoken rule they kept when talking - or rather, fighting - back home. “Please tell me you’re visiting a friend here, Cameron.”_

_He grinned and spread his arms wide. “Welcome to my home.”_

_“Dear god.” She elbowed him aside, serving herself a drink from the Gatorade cooler. “Of course you had to follow me here.”_

_He gaped, mouth hanging open in shock. “Follow - follow you?! You’re high if you think I would willingly follow you anywhere, Flint.”_

_“I applied to Ohio State, early decision, forever ago. You had to have known. It was my top school and top scholarship.” She shot back, trying her best to hide a grimace as she took a long sip from the sugary-sweet drink, laced with an ungodly amount of alcohol._

_He didn’t miss the subtle brag. “I don’t keep tabs on you. Why didn’t you go to Clemson or something nearby? You know, like everyone else?”_

_She rolled her eyes. “Because, dumbass, I look horrific in orange and purple.” She proclaimed like it was an obvious statement. “And I wanted to get the fuck out of the Carolinas.”_

_He grinned, completely unfazed by her insult,and lifted his cup to tap hers. “Cheers to that.”_

_“Whatever. I don’t want to see you on campus again.” She turned sharply on her heel, leaving with the last word - or so she thought._

_“See you around, Soph!” He called out after her, way too smug for her liking. Typically, he would follow her and antagonize her some more, but as a pledge he was assigned to man the jungle juice for the night. He stayed put, only out of obligation - making a silent promise to himself to check up on her another time._

____________  
_

She ran into Rafe again one week after the composite incident. Literally. 

In her defense, it was pouring rain. She was just trying to be a good friend and drop her roommate Allie off for class, now that Sophie finally had her own car in junior year, but she was running late as always and in a rush. Sophie swerved around the corner of the business school parking lot just as a big black Range Rover was backing up, and gasped when she heard the tell-tale crunch of metal on metal. Allie winced, clutching her backpack in her lap. “Um…” 

“Just go.” Sophie sighed, knowing she had only two minutes to make it to class on time. Allie muttered a quick apology and dashed out of the car as Sophie dropped her head to the steering wheel with a loud “fuck!” She reached over and grabbed her insurance card from the glove box, then got out of the car, ready to grovel. 

Rafe slammed his door as he got out to inspect the damage. It wasn’t much, more like a quick bump and a paint scratch than anything, but he was already in a mood and this didn’t help. 

“Oh, fuck no.” Sophie cursed lowly to herself as she saw Rafe hunched over by their bumpers. “Great driving, Cameron.” She called out, arms crossed. 

He straightened up, walking over to her with an incredulous look. “Uh uh. This is your fucking fault, Flint. Just give me your insurance card and we’ll call it good.” She rolled her eyes and pushed a now-wet strand of hair out of her face. “Except you crashed into me. Ever look in the parking lot before backing up?” He scoffed, gesturing her over to look at the cars and waited til she reluctantly followed. “There’s an indent of your front plate in my rear bumper. And there’s about twenty students that probably saw it, want to call in a character witness?” 

“I’m not a bad driver.” She huffed. “That’s clearly your fault.” She was lying, of course - anyone with two working eyes could see she had rammed into him. And with anyone else, she’d be extremely apologetic, even patient. But Rafe Cameron irked her to no end. 

“Yeah, the time you merged your brother’s car into someone else on the highway our sophomore year of high school shows you’re an excellent driver.” He retorted, then started toward her car, opening the door. “Where’s your card?” 

“Hey!” Sophie grabbed his arm, pulling him back. She fished the insurance card out of her pocket and begrudgingly handed it over. “Chill out, it’s right here.” He took out his phone and snapped a picture of the front and the back, then handed it back. He then paused, eyeing her over. She shifted under his intense gaze. “What, Rafe, it’s raining. Hurry up so we can both leave.” 

“I thought you weren’t in the business school. Why are you even here?” 

“I’m not. I’m dropping off a friend.” 

He reached out and swiped a thumb under her eye, and she silently cursed herself for the way she fucking shuddered, like she was desperate or something. He smirked. “Your mascara’s running. Probably ought to fix it.” 

With that, he turned back to his car - enjoying her rare moment of silence. 


	2. Chapter 2

By some strange coincidence, Rafe and Sophie were in the same section of their debate class. (Some might call it fate. Sophie would call it a curse.)

It was one of the less popular general education options in the communications section that all Ohio State students had to pick from, but they were both drawn to the idea of the challenge while enrolling. The class was fairly small for a gen ed, only about 40 students. When Rafe walked in on the first day, two minutes to start, he spotted Sophie immediately. She was poised with her notebook laid out, colored pens and all, and Rafe couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He deliberately sat opposite the room from Sophie, hoping and praying they would never be paired together. It was fun to argue about useless things at parties, but less fun in an educational setting. About a month into the semester, the thing he wanted least, happened. 

“Rafe Cameron...and…” Their professor trailed off, scanning around the room to find him a partner for the timed debate. Sophie kept her eyes trained on the doodles in the margin of her notebook, only halfway paying attention as she added another. She had been chosen once at the beginning of the semester and briefly entertained the short debate, something trivial about reality TV, but was left disappointed by her partner’s lackluster effort. “Sophie Flint!” At the mention of her name, her head snapped up, caught off guard. “Hm?” 

“You’ll be debating Mr. Cameron, here. Come up to the podiums please.” Their professor instructed. 

She sighed under her breath and rose from her seat as Rafe did the same, both of them standing at the podiums at the front of the classroom. Sophie laced her fingers behind her back, lifting her chin slightly to acknowledge Rafe. He just smirked. Asshole. 

“Alright, you two know the rules, keep it civil. Five minutes.” Their professor glanced down at her list of topics. “You’ll be debating...ah. Should golf be a sport or not? I’ll let you pick your sides -” 

They spoke at the same time. 

“Of course it should.” 

“God, no.” 

She held back an amused smile. “Alright. Carry on.” 

Sophie nodded curtly, then turned slightly toward Rafe, stating her position. “Golf courses are an absolute waste of real estate.” 

“Hold up - Professor Welch, are we talking about the sport or the course?” Rafe interrupted the debate, annoyed as he tugged at his cap. 

Their professor just shrugged. 

“Well you can’t have the sport without a course. Unless you want to play completely in the rough, which, with your skill level, you probably -” 

“Ms. Flint.” Professor Welch warned. 

Sophie barely held back a smirk. “Right. Anyways, courses are about 100, 200 acres on average? And say there’s at least 32,000 courses in the world. So by that standard…” she paused for a moment, doing the mental math. “You have roughly four and a half million acres of land occupied by golf courses.” 

Rafe raised his eyebrows, curling his fingers around the edge of the podium as he leaned slightly toward her. “I don’t see an issue with that. Golf is a valuable, fairly low-impact sport that provides an outlet for many. It’s accessible even past retirement, so it’s a sport that grows with you.” 

“Except the sport is classist. It’s expensive and typically located near neighborhoods that at least have a middle-class income. It’s only accessible past retirement if you have the option to retire, or if you retire with enough spare change to keep up the hobby.” She explained, almost seeming bored. “Not to mention, golf courses are destroying the environment.” 

“No they’re not.” He shot back. 

She raised her eyebrows at the meager comeback. “They are. What’s the one thing you need the most to keep the fairways groomed?” 

Rafe thought for a moment. “Water. But you can just use rainwater -” 

“Great, except most courses don’t.” She interrupted, rolling on. “It’s a huge waste of resources just to water the grass, instead of using that land for farming or preserving the biodiversity of the area.” 

“Thirty seconds.” Their professor chimed in, keeping an eye on her watch. 

Rafe hurried to make his point, knowing he was losing the debate by miles, but Sophie cut him off before he could even speak. “Not to mention, circling back to the sport being elitist, most courses require a country club membership to even play a round -” 

“You belong to a country club, Flint, that’s hardly a leg you can stand on.” Rafe interjected just as their professor called time, a broad smirk tugging at his lips as he sensed Sophie’s frustration at not getting the last word. 

“Enlightening.” Professor Welch turned back to the class. “Show of hands, who won?” The majority of the class voted for Sophie, only a few frat boys raising their hands in support for Rafe. The bell rang and their professor nodded as the class started to pack up and shuffle out. “Right then, don’t forget to read chapters three and four this weekend!” 

Sophie just rolled her eyes at Rafe’s smirk and grabbed her backpack, starting off down the hallway with a satisfied smirk of her own. Sure, he might have gotten the last dig, but she clearly had a stronger argument. 

“Sophie!” She didn’t need to glance over her shoulder to know it was Rafe calling out after her. “Flint!” She ignored him again as he jogged to catch up until she felt his large hand grip her arm. “Hey, I’m talking to you.” 

She yanked her arm out of his grip but turned around anyways. “Get your hands off - oh.” She mumbled the last word as she saw her phone clutched in his hand. 

“Chill out, you just left this behind.” Rafe offered it to her and she took it, giving him a short smile. 

“Right. Thanks.” 

“Hey, um. You did good, I didn’t know all that stuff.” He tried, offering her a rare compliment. 

“It’s well.” She corrected before she could stop herself. 

“Huh?” 

“Well. I did well, not good.” The second it left her mouth, she regretted it.

Rafe scowled slightly at the correction. “Whatever. See you next class.” He headed off, shaking his head. She stood there for a moment, watching him go and silently cursed herself in her head. Would it be that difficult to accept the compliment?

_________

“You need to get over yourself and just go say hi.” Sophie’s friend and roommate, Julia, interrupted her train of thought as Sophie was completely zoned out later that night, staring across the bar at Rafe. He wasn’t even doing anything remotely interesting, just talking with his friends and drinking the Wednesday special dollar beers, but there was something about the backwards cap - that damn backwards cap - that did it for her. Sophie shook her head absently, taking a moment until she redirected her gaze. “Huh?” 

Her other roommate, Allie, shook her head with a smile at Sophie’s delayed reaction. 

“Oh my god.” Julia snapped in front of her face to get her attention. “Look, if you’re not going to make a move, can I?” 

“Can you - what? With Rafe? Rafe Cameron? Like, my Rafe?” Sophie stuttered, slightly in shock. “ _Why_?” 

“Have you seen him? He’s cute. And he’s always been nice at parties. I need a date for the Theta party this weekend, please?” Julia asked, shooting a glance over at Rafe. He caught her eye but his gaze shifted over to Sophie for a moment as he sent her a nod of acknowledgment and a raise of his glass.

“I - um, fine, yeah, whatever.” Sophie knocked back the rest of her drink as a final statement, not wanting the conversation to last any longer as she flushed just slightly under Rafe’s stare. “I’m getting more, do you guys want something?” 

After a chorus of no’s from her friends, she pushed her way up to the bar alone. A few moments later, Rafe sidled up next to her, ordering a drink and leaning against the bar to face her. Sophie tried her best to ignore him, keeping her gaze trained on the glowing neon signs behind the bar. 

“Not gonna say hi?” Rafe asked. 

It took everything in her for Sophie not to roll her eyes as she turned slightly toward him. “Hi, Cameron. Are you free this Friday?” 

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Are you asking me out?” 

That was enough to warrant an eyeroll. “No.” (She bit back the ‘ _no, stupid_ ’ that threatened to roll off her tongue.) “My friend Julia doesn’t have a date for the Theta party. Are you down?” 

“Oh, shit, yeah.” He turned as their drinks arrived, sliding enough cash across to cover both of them. “The redhead, right?” 

Sophie tried to grab his cash back and cover her half before the bartender could take it, but she noticed too late. “Yes, the redhead. Here.” She shoved the $5 bill into Rafe’s hand. He just pushed it back into hers, taking her hand and closing it into a fist around the bill. “Rafe, I don’t want your money,” she tried again. 

He grinned. “So you can cover me next time we go out, then. What’s Julia’s number?” 

“Right.” She sighed and gestured for his phone. He handed it over easily. “Um, I don’t know it off the top of my head and they have my purse, but. Here’s mine and I’ll pass it on.” She typed her number into his phone quickly, saving her contact then handing it back. 

Rafe nodded with an easy grin, hand lingering for a moment as he took back the phone. “Even better. See ya Friday, Soph.” He gently bumped his elbow against hers, hands full, before heading back to his crew. It wasn’t lost on Sophie that she was left standing there, again, without the last word.


	3. Chapter 3

With a reluctant groan, Sophie dragged herself out of bed for her 9am Friday lecture. Still a little hungover from the night before, she was reminded of her constant regret for choosing the only gen ed with Friday classes, compared to her other options. (But nothing sounded fun about Western Civilizations.) She tugged on an oversized sweatshirt, wiped away remnants of last night’s mascara, and grabbed a bagel from the Theta kitchen as she headed out the door, just ten minutes after waking up. 

When she sat down in her lecture hall, she was surprised to see Rafe there before her. She was typically one of the first to arrive to class, even on Fridays when only half the class decided to show up. He caught her eye and gave her a small nod, lifting his coffee mug in acknowledgment. Rafe was surprised when she returned the gesture. 

“Another underwhelming day of attendance, it seems.” Their professor cracked the joke as the clock hit 9am, acknowledging the modest crowd. Rafe had to roll his eyes when Sophie was one of few to offer a pity laugh. “Right. Tough crowd. As you all know, I’ll be assigning the pairings for the debate partners today. You’ll keep this partner for the rest of the semester and debate other pairs, so you’ll need to really balance each other out.” 

She began reading down the list and Sophie listened for her name, her eyes flitting around the room as she saw partners moving to sit together. Her brow started furrowing as she didn’t hear her name called, further and further down the list, until Professor Welch finally finished. “And Ms. Flint and Mr. Cameron. Exchange numbers, sit with your partner…” Sophie tuned her out the second she heard Rafe’s name called. As people started shuffling around the room, Sophie made her way to the front as Rafe did the same. Rafe made it to their professor first, splaying his hands on the edge of her desk as he leaned forward. “Professor Welch, can I request a new partner?” 

Sophie scoffed from behind him, though she was about to do the exact same thing. “Can’t handle working with me, Cameron?” 

Rafe ignored her, putting on his best charming smile. Their professor raised her eyebrows, glancing between the two of them. “Is there a problem? I thought you two did well in the debate in the last class.” 

“Yeah, _against_ each other.” Sophie emphasized, taking a step forward. “I promise, Professor, I wouldn’t normally ask, but -” 

Professor Welch cut her off with a shake of her head. “You two are grown adults and you won’t be able to just opt out of a project in a workplace setting. This should be good practice for you.” With a wave of her hand, they were dismissed. Rafe grumbled under his breath and straightened up to stalk away, arrogant as ever. Sophie huffed as she strode back to her respective seat opposite him. They sat there in their seats, staring across the classroom with folded arms. 

Rafe patted the seat desk next to him with a smirk, crooking one finger toward her. 

Sophie just shook her head and lifted her chin in defiance. 

After a solid one-minute staredown, Rafe finally gave in, a scowl on his face as he grabbed his things and came over to sit next to her. They sat in silence, resigned as they waited for more instruction from their professor. 

He turned to her after a few moments. “Sophie.”

“What.” 

“Okay, you don’t need to act like a bitch.” He nudged her with his knee. Somehow, it wasn’t said with ill-intent. 

Sophie bristled at the insult. “Is that how you start all conversations with girls, asshole?” 

“No, just the rude ones.” Rafe shot back, a small smirk on his lips. 

Typically she would be more offended, but he was a little right. She would have to learn to give in a little bit if they were meant to work together. “Right. What do you want?” 

“How’d you know all that? About the golf course?” He asked, sounding genuinely curious. 

She sighed softly and turned toward him. “I’m an architecture major. My concentration is in environmental planning.” 

“Oh.” Rafe raised his eyebrows, impressed, and sat back in his seat, nodding to himself. “That’s actually pretty cool.” 

“Don’t act so surprised that I’m smart, Cameron.” 

“Don’t put words in my mouth, Flint, I already knew you were smart.” 

Sophie couldn’t help the tiny smile that tugged at her lips. “What’s your major?” 

“Information systems, in the business school. With a film minor.” Rafe replied, chest puffing up proudly. 

“A film minor?” She questioned, surprised. “Why?” 

He laughed at her confusion. “I wanted something that sounded fun on the side. I’ve always thought movies were pretty cool.” 

“Hm.” Sophie mused, then turned her attention back to the front.

Professor Welch gave most of the class some time to get acquainted with their new partners, and when the chatter slowly died down, she addressed the class with a smile. “I hope you all are satisfied with your partner. Make sure you get to know each other, you’ll be spending quite a bit of time together.” 

“Not if I can help it.” Rafe mumbled under his breath, making Sophie roll her eyes. (He was lying through his teeth, of course, but Sophie didn’t need to know that.) 

Their professor spoke again. “Anyways, you all are dismissed, I know it’s Friday so I’ll let you out early.” On cue, everyone began packing up and heading out. “Instructions for the next assignment are online and in the syllabus!” 

With a resigned sigh, Sophie slung her bag over her shoulder and followed him out. “See you tonight, Cameron.” 

Rafe stopped abruptly in his tracks ahead of her. “...why?” He questioned. 

She gave him a little shove from behind, pushing him out the doors. “The date party? You’re going as Julia’s date, remember?” 

“Shit, right, yeah.” In all honesty, he had forgotten about it the second he left the conversation with Sophie at the bar. He was more focused on the fact that he finally had her number - and a bad habit of drunk texting, so he had to curb his drinking for the night. 

“Oh my god. If you don’t show, I swear -” She started to threaten.

“I’m not gonna ditch her, who do you take me for? Jesus, Soph, give me a break.” Rafe retorted, keeping in stride with Sophie’s quick pace. 

She bit back a sharp reply, falling silent as they walked together for a moment. “We should probably put together a schedule for meeting up. I’m fairly busy.” She suggested. 

“What, have to go suck up to all your professors in their office hours?” He teased, just wanting to get a rise out of her. 

It worked. She scowled, crossing her arms. “No, I’m a TA in two different classes. Does Tuesday nights work for you? At six?” 

“I wasn’t far off.” He laughed, then thought for a moment, although his schedule was admittedly free save for his classes. “Wait, every week? Is that really necessary?” 

“I plan on winning the debates and I think we’ve agreed on two things total in our life, so yeah. It is necessary.” The way she said it, she left no room to argue. 

“What two things?” He cocked his head, curious. 

She rolled her eyes and ticked them off on her fingers. “One, we both wanted to leave the Outer Banks, two, going to Ohio State. That’s _it_.” 

“Oh.” Was all he had to reply, trying to wrack his brain for anything they had agreed on in the past, but came up empty. 

“Where are you going?” Sophie asked, glancing over at him. “Because I’m going to the architecture building, and you live in the opposite direction.” She couldn’t help but notice the way his hair was slightly unkempt from the fall breeze - a better look than the slicked back usual. 

“I - uh - I’m going to the library. How do you know where I live?” He lied, not wanting to give in. 

She raised an eyebrow. “The library, that’s in the opposite direction of our lecture hall? And don’t be obtuse, I know you live at Delt and we’re practically neighbors.” 

“Right.” Short of an argument, he shook his head and turned, starting off away from Sophie. 

She laughed, calling after him with a teasing lilt to her voice. “Don’t be late tonight!”


	4. Chapter 4

“So. Why’d you set them up?” Sophie’s roommate Allie asked as they got ready for the party together, makeup and hair tools scattered across their shared countertop. Sophie’s ‘drunk in a frat basement vibe’ playlist blasted from her phone and she scowled as she knocked back her second shot of vodka (reserved for pregames only), the liquid burning her throat.

Julia had gotten ready earlier and was on her way to pick Rafe up and bring him back to the sorority house, expressing her nerves several times before Sophie and Allie finally shoved her out the door. _“I don’t know why you’re so nervous, it’s just Rafe.”_ Sophie had complained. The two of them opted to forgo bringing a date, planning on staying for a solid hour to dance then head to the after party at another Theta girl’s house.

“Why not?” Sophie replied, eyes trained in the mirror as she carefully applied eyeliner. “I thought you two hated each other.” Allie mentioned, casting a hesitant glance her way. “We do.” Sophie shrugged. It was well-known at that point, why was she questioning it?

“Did Julia do something then?” Allie questioned, confused.

“No, why would you say that?”

“Because.” Allie turned to catch her eye, trying to read her reaction. “You hate him.”

“No, I don’t hate him.” Sophie set the eyeliner down with a sigh. “Look, _I_ would never date him, but I wouldn’t have a problem with him dating my friends. He’s not that terrible.” Allie laughed, shaking her head. “You make literally no sense.” 

“It makes sense! C’mon, you don’t have anyone like that?”

“No, I actually enjoy my friend’s company.”

“Hm.” Sophie shook her head. “I wouldn’t say we’re friends. But you’ve got it all wrong, anyways.”

“Uh huh.” Allie rolled her eyes, wiggling into her dress for the 70s themed party.

“No, I’m serious! I don’t mind being around him, no one else will argue with me like him.” Sophie declared as she tugged her halter top in place, then checked her phone. “One last shot before we have to head down?”

“We need to stop buying shitty alcohol. Now that Julia’s 21, we have no excuse.” Allie complained but poured the shots anyway, wrinkling her nose as she sniffed the bottle.

“We do have an excuse, we’re struggling college students and Burnett’s is cheap.” Sophie countered, clinking the shot glass with Allie’s before knocking it back. “Come on, we can’t miss the bus again.”

_

Meanwhile, Rafe was having a similar conversation with his roommates over at Delt. “Lemme get this straight. So you’re going on a date with her friend.” James said, gesturing broadly as he tried to understand. He and Colin, their other roommate, had followed Rafe into the communal bathroom to grill him the second he let it slip he had to get ready for a Theta party.

“Right.” Rafe confirmed, eyes focused in the mirror as he concentrated on shaving.

“But you keep talking about Sophie instead.” James stated. “Like, I haven’t heard you shut up about her since I met you freshman year.”

Colin chimed in from across the room in a matter-of-fact tone. “That’s ‘cause he’s obsessed with her.”

“Am not!” Rafe objected quickly, wincing as he nicked his jaw with the razor.

James laughed tauntingly. “Just ask her out, dude, I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“You don’t get it.” Rafe turned to the two with his hand pressed against his jaw to stop the bleeding. “Sophie’s different, she’s not just -”

“Then I’ll ask her out. I need a date for our party next week.” Colin interrupted, but kept his head down as he scrolled on his phone. He knew he was pushing the limits and didn’t need to see Rafe’s look of jealousy to know it was written all over his face.

“...Fine.” Rafe said after a few beats too many.

“You’re cool with that?” James questioned, doubtful as he cast Colin a wary glance.

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” Rafe shot back, trying to play it cool.

“Uh, I don’t know, probably because you’re in -” James started, ultra-sarcastic.

“Fuck off, both of you.” Rafe muttered as he walked out of the bathroom. The boys followed him out to the hall and down the stairs to see him off.

“Are you gonna fix your shirt? You look ridiculous.” Colin asked, surveying Rafe’s outfit.

He wore brown corduroy pants with a slight flare at the bottom (that he had to borrow from the Delt costume closet) and had his floral-patterned shirt almost completely unbuttoned, tucked into the pants. “No, it’s a 70s party. This was the style, I guess.” He grinned, gesturing to his chest and flexed for a moment. “And I get to show off my hard work.”

“Are you showing off your singular chest hair too?” James teased, just laughing when Rafe flipped him off over his shoulder as he walked out the door.

_

“Nice shirt, Cameron.” Sophie greeted Rafe right away as he came onto the bus with Julia, heading straight to the back. He didn’t miss the sarcastic tone but was surprised as she pulled a flask out of her white knee-high boot, passing it to him surreptitiously.

He grinned, his eyes trailing over her chest for a moment as he took the opportunity to duck his head down to take a swig. “Thank you. We match.” He nudged his shoulder against hers, comparing the similar floral patterned fabric on his shirt and her top.

“You should have sent me a picture of what you were wearing, Rafe, Sophie and I would have traded outfits.” Julia told him with a hint of a complaint in her voice, her hand going to rest on his thigh. “Now it looks like you two came together.”

Rafe and Sophie laughed at the same time and Sophie shook her head. “Anyone with half a brain would know we wouldn’t come together.”

“Right.” Rafe found himself having to force a grin, then slid his arm around Julia’s waist. “Besides, I’m here with you anyways.”

Sophie averted her eyes, choosing to ignore the small pang of jealousy in her chest.

_

“I’m going to be sick.” Sophie mentioned to Allie at the after party with disgust lacing her tone, eyes trained on Rafe’s arm slung casually around Julia’s shoulders. Allie frowned and tried taking the solo cup from Sophie’s hand, only for Sophie to tug it back and take a big gulp. “Maybe stop drinking then?”

“No, no. Not like that. It’s just - she’s been parading him around, all night, like a fucking prize.” Sophie scowled as she reached to refill her cup with the Malibu sitting on the counter. Allie watched skeptically as Sophie zoned out as she poured, then grabbed her wrist gently once the cup was filled halfway. “I think that’s enough, Soph.” She murmured, knowing Sophie wasn’t really concerned with Julia and what she did.

“I just want to be drunk.” She complained, but let Allie take the bottle away and top off her cup with lemonade instead.

Allie laughed and linked her arm in Sophie’s, tugging her back out to the party. “I’m pretty sure you already are, babe.”

“Yeah, well, not enough.” Sophie almost gagged as she took a sip of her drink, immediately pouring some into Allie’s cup. “Shit, that’s strong.”

“I tried to stop you!” Allie giggled, then nodded her head toward a boy hanging around alone by the unoccupied beer pong table. “Go distract yourself. Mackenzie brought him as a friend, but I’m pretty sure she’s over there flirting with someone else.”

Sophie cast another wayward glance toward Rafe and sighed as he let out a loud laugh at something Julia had just said. “Can you tell I’m drunk?”

Allie shook her head. “No, it’s almost concerning how good you are at hiding it. I can almost never tell.” Sophie smiled, pleased. “Do I look okay?” Allie grinned and checked her hip against Sophie’s. “Stunning. Flirt away.” She said before turning away, leaving her on her own.

Sophie took another quick sip of her drink as liquid courage before stepping up to the beer pong table, starting to arrange the cups properly. “Are you any good?” She asked the boy with a flirty smile. “Me?” He replied stupidly as he looked around for a beat instead, almost surprised that Sophie was talking to him. “Yeah, play with me.” She scooped the ball out of one of the cups and placed it in his palm. “I’m Sophie.”

He nodded and grinned back. “I’m Will. I can’t promise I’m any good, my aim’s kind of shit.”

She laughed and moved to the other side of the table, setting up the cups on that side too with her back to Rafe. “Good, then I’ll win.”

He had been watching the exchange from across the room, halfway listening to Julia’s conversation with a few other sorority girls. He thought she was perfectly nice, but didn’t see himself pursuing anything further once the night ended. “Hey, Julia, let’s go play pong.” He suggested abruptly, steering her toward the table. “I - okay!” Julia shrugged as she was cut off mid-ramble about something pointless.

“We’ll play.” Rafe interrupted Sophie’s flirting with a friendly hand clapped on her shoulder from behind, pulling her up just as she was purposely leaning across the table to show off her chest in her low-cut top to Will. She cursed quietly at the familiar voice and shrugged him off. “That’s alright, we weren’t really -”

“No, it’s okay, we’ll just be partners.” Will amended with an easy smile, coming over to her side of the table as Rafe and Julia took his place. “I’ll try not to let you down.” He teased Sophie, nudging her with his shoulder.

The game went on without incident for a while, Rafe and Sophie almost matching each other shot-for-shot - in both trash talk and tosses at the cup. Sophie was disappointed by Will’s performance - he held true to his lack of aim, and Julia overshot nearly every time it was her turn. “Flick your wrist more, Will.” Sophie advised, slightly annoyed near the end of the game, down to one cup each. Rafe smirked, but the smirk quickly disappeared as he watched Sophie take Will’s hand, trying to mimic the motion of throwing the ball. Will laughed, apologizing again for his poor game, then took his shot - leading it to bounce off the table.

“Julia, go ahead.” Rafe offered, eyeing his opportunity. She missed, as he expected, and he stepped forward with a wicked grin. Sophie frowned, already wary. “Game over, Soph.” He grinned, then took a hard shot - knocking the lone cup off the table and spilling it straight onto Will’s pants.

“What the fuck, Rafe!” Sophie exclaimed straightaway, throwing up her hands in exasperation.

He gave Will a small shrug, not looking apologetic in the slightest. “Sorry man, didn’t think it’d spill.”

“That’s not house rules, idiot.” Sophie spat. Rafe just laughed, arrogant as ever. “This isn’t your house, Flint, you can’t make up house rules.” She scowled as she gestured toward Will, who was making a poor effort of trying to pat his pants dry with just his bare hands. “Knocking the death cup is off limits, that’s house rules here, _Cameron_. You got his pants all soaked.”

“It’s fine, really.” Will deflected, trying to diffuse the situation.

“No, it’s not. I’ll go find you a towel.” Sophie huffed, having long given up on flirting. She took off to the kitchen. Rafe turned to Julia, starting to apologize. “I’m gonna -”

Julia waved him off with a knowing smile. She was honestly surprised Rafe had stuck around with her for so long, noting that he seemed bored from the start of the after party. “I know. Go ahead.”

Rafe gave her a grateful smile, then followed Sophie into the kitchen, the door swinging shut behind him. “Come on, Soph, you’re not actually mad at me.” He tried, leaning against the counter.

“Move.” She grumbled, trying to push him aside. He didn’t budge. “Sophie.” She set her hands on his hips, catching him off guard just enough to shove him away from blocking a set of drawers. She started going through them for a spare towel, ignoring him. “Sophie, come on.” He tried again.

She stood back up, empty-handed, and shook her head, going out the back door to a small porch. Normally, it’d be busy out back, but in the chill October air, everyone had stayed inside. Rafe didn’t hesitate to follow again.

“What the hell was that, Rafe?” She demanded, hating the way he leaned up against the wall of the house so easily, like he belonged.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He challenged.

“No, you know exactly what you were doing.” Sophie shot back, arms crossed as she took a step forward. “I was trying to flirt with him and you interrupted.”

He smirked, matching her step closer. “Well you were doing a pretty shit job, you seemed more annoyed about his poor game than anything.”

She pressed a hand against his chest to keep just enough distance between the two of them, lowering her voice a bit. “That’s not why you stopped me.”

He leaned closer, raising his eyebrows. “Enlighten me, then.”

She stayed quiet, only able to think about his heartbeat racing underneath her touch. As he bent his head down, closer, she fisted her hand in his shirt, her voice low with a warning tone. “Rafe.”

“Sophie.” He murmured back, lips hovering inches away from hers.


	5. Chapter 5

Sophie made the first move, reaching up and curling a hand around the back of his neck as she pulled him into the kiss. He met her lips without hesitation, his hands instantly going to her waist. She leaned into his touch, up on her toes. “M’ so glad no one’s out here.” She breathed out, keeping one hand splayed against his chest. Rafe tried to ignore how much that hurt, like he was some secret to be kept.

They kept kissing for a while, Sophie lazily toying with the ends of his hair. After a couple minutes, he started kissing along her jaw, sucking just enough at a spot on her neck to elicit a soft moan from her. “I wish I came as your date.” He murmured against her skin as he traced his thumb back and forth over her hip. She froze at his confession, her head clouded without a clear thought. “You’re drunk.” She mumbled back, hand falling from his neck. “I’m not.” He argued, kissing her again. She could taste the rum on his lips, betraying his words.

“Well, I am.” She replied softly, hesitating again until he went in for another kiss. “And I’m still mad about your stupid death cup rule.” He scoffed, softly, but sounded more amused than anything. “You can’t call house rules when it’s not your house.” Sophie scowled and pressed her hand a little harder against his chest. “It’s more my house than yours. Can’t you just follow the rules?” He chuckled, trailing his hand higher and ran his index finger lightly along her spine. “Do you ever stop arguing, Soph?” She shivered at his touch, willing herself not to move closer. “Not with you.”

“Can we…?” He asked with a broad grin, tipping his head toward their houses, just a short walk away.

She laughed at the proposition, harshly. “I’m not hooking up with you, Cameron. I’ll be surprised if I remember this tomorrow.”

He faltered and the grin fell from his face right away as he dropped one of his hands from her waist. “Damn, tell me how you really feel.” He choked out a sore laugh, trying again to mask his bruised ego. She stepped back out of his grip, pressing her fingers against her swollen lips in a feeble attempt to hide any evidence of what had just happened. “I’m going to go, tell Julia for me?”

“Wait, you’re just - that’s it?” He questioned, disappointment evident.

“Yes, that’s it.” She paused, reading his expression - and laughed, again. It sounded cruel to his ears. “You didn’t seriously think something was going to happen between us, did you?” Rafe stiffened and ran a hand through his hair, his voice flat. “No. Of course I didn’t.”

She turned, going to leave. He caught her hand in his and she turned back for a moment, caught off guard by his gentle touch. “You can’t walk home alone, Sophie, it’s dark.” She rolled her eyes and tugged her hand out of his grip. “It’s fine, it’s literally like five-ish minutes. There’s people out walking home from the bars, it’s alright.”

Rafe frowned. “Sophie…”

“Go back to your date, Rafe.” She shook her head, walking off with her head held high.

_

Sophie woke up a few hours later to Allie and Julia peering over her as she was sprawled out on one of the couches in the sorority’s formal living room. “Soph, wake up, let’s go to our room.” Allie nudged her softly, tugging gently on her wrist. “Huh?” She mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Julia laughed and helped pull her up. “Bedtime, Sophie. You gotta stop crashing on these couches, you’re gonna get in trouble. Did Rafe take you home?”

“What? No, I think I walked.” She replied, still half-asleep and still somewhat drunk. “Oh. He left after you did, I figured he brought you back here.” Julia shrugged, the three of them walking up to their room. Sophie just shook her head, trying to recall the rest of her night. “I dunno where he went. You’re not going to see him again, are you?”

“No, he was nice, but. Didn’t seem interested. In me, anyways.” Julia replied, sounding unaffected. Allie held back a smile, knowing exactly what she was hinting at. “C’mon, Soph, let’s get ready for bed. You’re gonna hate me if you wake up in a halter top.” Sophie nodded sleepily, following along. “Prob’ly right.”

The girls made their way upstairs and Sophie was coherent enough to change into pajamas, barely sitting up on the edge of her bed as Allie dragged a makeup wipe over her face. “He’s so fucking handsome. I hate it.” She slurred, allowing herself to feel the full effects of the alcohol with the two people she was comfortable around. 

“Who is?” Julia asked, playing dumb. Allie shot her a warning look as Sophie flopped back onto the bed. 

“You know who I’m talking about. I didn’t know he was such a good kisser.” Sophie mumbled, crawling under the covers. 

“Wait, what?!” Julia practically shrieked and Allie immediately shushed her. She lowered her tone just slightly. “You two kissed? Finally!” 

Sophie groaned at the loud noise, pulling a pillow over her face. She spoke again, muffled into the pillow. Allie raised an eyebrow at Julia as they whispered in hushed tones back and forth to each other. 

_“Did you know?”_

_“No I didn’t know! But it took them long enough!”_

_“She was drunk! She probably didn’t mean it!”_

Sophie lifted her head again, annoyance lacing her tone. “I can _hear_ you. Shh, I’m sleeping.” With that, the two girls took the bathroom to discuss the rest of the night in private. 

_

Rafe couldn’t get the thought of her out of his head all weekend. 

Instead of meeting up with his friends at the bar that night like he had promised, he made a quick exit from the party, giving Julia a short apology then heading out the door. Sophie was right, there were quite a few people out making their way from the bars to house parties or wherever, but he used it as an excuse to follow her home from a distance. He felt a bit creepy, admittedly, but told himself he just happened to be going home to Delt, two houses away from where she lived at Theta. (Plus if he had heard something had happened to her, he would have never forgiven himself.) 

He had never been more grateful for a lecture day in class on Monday. He could feel her gaze on him several times throughout class, wanting nothing more than to meet her eyes, but kept his head down as he scrawled notes into his notebook. At the end of class, he packed his things hurriedly, trying to rush out the door, but she was quicker and waited just outside the doors for him. “Rafe, hey!” She caught his arm as he was walking out, head down. He slowed, stepping aside in the hallway with her and tried his best to play it cool. “What’s up?” 

She smiled like nothing had ever happened between them. “I tried getting your attention all class, you were ignoring me. I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to sit together now?” He shook his head and tugged down on the bill of his hat, backwards as always. “Oh. Didn’t know. I was just taking notes.” She nodded, unfazed. “Right. I just wanted to be sure we were still on to meet tomorrow night? I think our first debate is soon, I don’t want to be unprepared.” 

He grimaced, having completely forgotten. “Right, yeah. Is the library cool? Er, fine? I can reserve a room.” Sophie waved her hand. “I already got us one. Second floor, I’ll see you at six.” She paused, giving him a once-over then a sheepish grin. “I meant to ask, did you have fun at the party with Julia? I honestly don’t remember much after the bus back to Theta.” 

Rafe’s blood ran cold and he had to stop himself from openly gaping. True to her word, she hadn’t remembered. “Um. Yeah. She’s nice, but, uh, not really my type, you know.” He tripped over his words, glancing at her neck to see if there was any trace of the mark he had left, but it was either completely healed or well-covered. “Oh.” Sophie nodded again, completely oblivious. “Okay then, I’ll see you later.” She left him standing there, shaking his head in disbelief. 

The second he got back to Delt, he found Colin right away in their room, playing video games with James. “You can’t ask her out.” Rafe declared, standing right in front of the TV. They both ignored James’ protests and Colin pulled the headset down, confused. “What?”

“You can’t ask her out.” Rafe repeated, arms crossed. His face was stony, jaw set. 

Colin raised his eyebrows. “Why, did something happen? This why you’ve been a space case all weekend?” 

Rafe grumbled something under his breath. “No, just - you can’t. She’s off limits.” 

James just rolled his eyes, reaching out and kicking his leg to get him out of the way of the TV. “You can’t claim a girl that doesn’t even want you in the first place, dumbass.” 

Rafe groaned, grabbing his ankle and shoving his leg aside. “I’m serious, Colin. Delt code. And if you already asked her out, you have to tell her plans changed or something, don’t be a dick about it -” 

“Chill, chill, I haven’t said a word to her.” Colin raised his hands in surrender. 

Rafe exhaled, nodding slowly. “Right. Good. Carry on, then.” He missed Colin and James exchanging confused looks as he left the room with a huff. 

_ 

If she was going to just pretend nothing ever happened and be nice, he could deal with that. They could be friends, Rafe told himself as he swiped his card at a local coffee shop in town before his meeting with Sophie that Tuesday night. He ignored the way his stomach twisted as he first caught sight of her alone in the study room in the library, a pencil tucked up and twisted into her hair. 

“Here, Soph.” He slid into his seat across from her, pushing a cup of coffee across the table. She glanced up, ready to make a snarky remark about it being too late for caffeine, then paused as she saw the cup from Sweetwaters, her favorite coffee. Rafe pulled out his laptop, logging on, then glanced up at her. “What, something wrong? You like it with vanilla, right?” She nodded quickly and brought it to her lips, then took a small sip and gave him a wry smile. “Yeah, um, just didn’t know you noticed. Thank you.” 

“No biggie.” He waved it off, then pushed the laptop to her and started walking her through the argument he had prepared in advance. She was totally unfocused, distracted by running every single possible meaning of what his kind gesture could have meant. After a couple minutes, Rafe caught on. “And that’s exactly why I’m taking credit for all of the project. Right?” 

Sophie nodded quickly, snapping out of it. “Right, yeah, totally. Um. Let me just read back over this real quick…” 

He laughed and leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head. “Were you listening?” 

Never willing to admit her faults, she scowled at him. “Of course I was listening.” 

He grinned. “Sure, Soph.” 

“Why do you call me that?” She interrupted. 

He shrugged. “I’ve called you that since high school, it’s nothing new.” 

“But...my friends call me Soph. And only some of them.” She pointed out. 

His lips quirked up into an amused smile. “You really think we’re not friends? Hit me where it hurts, Flint.” 

She raised her eyebrows, confused and pulled her hand back. “You hate me.” 

He shook his head. “Not quite.” After a momentary pause, he pushed the laptop back to her. “See, like I was saying…” 

Sophie nodded at his admission, trying to hide a smile as she took another sip of her coffee. The rest of the meeting was productive, and they were both quiet as they packed up their things an hour later. “Is your family coming in next weekend? For parent’s weekend?” She broke the silence, trying to make friendly conversation. Every third weekend in October, Columbus was flooded with parents reliving their college days and buying their kids’ meals at fancy restaurants normally frequented by locals. All of Greek life had the same time of year reserved for parent’s weekend, and with Sophie’s parents as proud alumni and her older brother now a grad student at Ohio State, her family hadn’t missed one yet. 

“Uh, no. My dad doesn’t really have time to come out with work and whatever, and.” He shrugged and preoccupied himself with zipping his backpack, head down. “You know.” Sophie frowned, biting her lip. “Right, sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. Do you have plans, then?” He rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head. “No, I’ll probably just head to the game alone. Don’t really want to crash my friend’s weekends, you know.” 

“Come hang with me.” 

He glanced up at her. “Isn’t your family coming in?” 

Suddenly emboldened, Sophie sent him an earnest smile. “Yeah, but it’s basically just a frat reunion for my dad, it’s nothing special. Come to our tailgate, I’m sure they’d like to see you.” Her parents knew the Cameron family well from growing up and her dad was a golf instructor at the country club back home. He had taught Rafe in private lessons all through high school, and always spoke fondly of him. 

“I wouldn’t want to intrude…” He hedged, though he wanted nothing more than to accept the offer. 

“You wouldn’t be. At least consider it?” 

“I - yeah, I’ll think about it.” He settled. She grinned, pulling her backpack over her shoulder. “Good. Thank you, again, for the coffee.” 

“It’s no problem.” He allowed a smile, giving her a small wave as she left.


	6. Chapter 6

Sophie didn’t know what came over her, but she lied. Straight through her teeth. 

_

When she woke up on Saturday morning, head throbbing, she dragged herself out of bed and down the hall to promptly pull trig in the bathrooms and move on with her day. After taking care of things, she looked herself over in the mirror, grimacing at her appearance. As she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, her eyes widened in surprise at the dark hickey coloring her neck and she promptly let her hair fall back down, storming back into her room.

Allie was already up early, doing homework, and Julia was just barely waking up and winced at the sound of the door slamming shut behind Sophie. 

“What the fuck is this?” Sophie exclaimed, pulling back her hair and pointing out the bruise. 

Allie covered her mouth as she tried her best not to laugh, hesitant to answer. “Um...you might have made out with someone at the party. You don’t remember?”

“No, I was way drunk.” Sophie turned to Julia, raising her eyebrows. “Do you know who?” 

“You made out with my date, bitch.” Julia snorted, using the insult as a term of affection. 

“Your date…” Sophie trailed off, the memories rushing back to her and her jaw dropped. “I didn’t. No I fucking didn’t.” 

“You did. And then you walked home alone and didn’t text us like you’re supposed to, so thank god for Find My Friends.” Allie chided her, crossing her arms. 

Sophie winced and glanced between the two of them. “Fuck, Jules, I’m sorry. I wasn’t -” 

Julia waved her hand. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. I don’t care, he clearly wasn’t into me.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Sophie, grinning. “Had his eye on _you_ all night.” 

“Fucking hell.” Sophie cursed, pressing her hand to her neck. “If this is still here on Monday, I can’t go to class. I can’t.” 

In the end, Allie forced her out the door for class after Julia skillfully applied three layers of concealer to Sophie’s neck. Sophie told herself she would play nice, for once, and tried catching his eye during the entire class, but Rafe didn’t glance in her direction once. She felt like her heart was going to beat straight out of her chest as she pulled him aside after class, resolving to confront the situation head-on. The exact opposite happened and she regretted playing dumb the second the words left her mouth. 

_“I meant to ask, did you have fun at the party with Julia? I honestly don’t remember much after the bus back to Theta.”_

As Rafe’s face dropped, she clutched at the straps of her backpack, wanting to just shrink away in embarrassment. She kept up the small talk for only a few moments later before watching him walk off alone. Sophie ignored the small voice in her head yelling at her to go after him, explain things, but realized she had nothing to explain. It was simply a drunken makeout, she decided, nothing more. 

Of course, he had to ruin that plan of ignoring things by getting her coffee from her favorite place for their study date. 

“Where’d you get the coffee?” Allie questioned her the second Sophie returned to their room Tuesday night, struggling to hold back a smile. 

“Rafe brought it. For our study date.” 

“Date?” Julia teased, sending Sophie a wink. 

Sophie blushed, shaking her head quickly. “You know what I mean!” 

“You know, if you weren’t so stubborn, you could just get together already.” Julia pointed out, rolling her eyes. 

Sophie scoffed right away. “Yeah, okay. When hell freezes over, maybe.” She took a seat on the futon, pulling out her phone to distract herself from the conversation. That lasted for approximately two minutes until Allie broke the silence. 

“Soph...why are you so against the idea of you two?” Allie asked, treading carefully around the subject. The last time she had brought it up, sophomore year, Sophie had reacted worse than when Julia had tried to set her up with a Michigan basketball player she knew (“ _not the enemy, Jules_!”). 

“I...I don’t know.” Sophie avoided eye contact from both her roommates and ducked her head down as she thought. “We fight too much.” She decided, giving herself an easy out. 

“You two are like magnets are every party.” Julia pointed out. “Fighting is a cop out, and you know it.” 

Sophie huffed and stood, crossing the room to leave. “I don’t want to talk about it, it’s nothing.” 

“You’re going to have to figure it out someday.” Julia pushed, sticking her foot in front of the door. 

Sophie frowned and gently kicked her foot away before she left. “Not today.” 

_ 

She was distracted again in class, barely paying attention when Rafe finally sat next to her in their assigned seats. He kept tapping his pencil against the desk in a steady pattern as their professor lectured. Midway through class, Sophie reached out, placing her hand on top of his. “Stop.” She hissed, nudging her knee against his under the table. He didn’t tug his hand away like she expected. “You stop.” Rafe whispered back, smirking. There was something about the smug smirk that made her want to both kiss him senseless and slap him across the face. 

“You drive me fucking crazy.” She muttered, pulling her hand back to her desk. 

He grinned and leaned closer, his voice husky as he whispered. “I should hope so.” 

She closed her eyes to keep her composure, letting out a slow breath. “Rafe.” He leaned back in his seat, satisfied, and redirected his attention to the lecture. Sophie grumbled and angled her seat away from his as she continued to take notes, doing her best to ignore his presence. When the lecture ended a few minutes later, he bumped his shoulder against hers as they packed up. “Hey. Um. Does your offer still stand?” 

Sophie softened, surprising him with a smile. “For family weekend? Yeah, of course. I’ll come over to Delt and we can walk over together.” 

“You don’t want to drive?” 

“Nah, don’t want to mess with parking. And I’m not planning on staying sober.” She grinned. He swallowed, thinking about what happened the last time she was drunk. “Right, okay. I’ll see you then.” 

_

Sophie showed up on the front porch of Delta Tau Delta right on time like she promised. She hesitated, about to ring the doorbell, then decided to just wait outside, shooting Rafe a quick text. Upstairs, Rafe had changed into his third polo of the day and was currently sporting his second jacket he had tried on, fixing his hair in the mirror. 

“You gotta chill the fuck out, dude.” James told him, watching skeptically as Rafe combed gel through his hair. 

At the ding of his phone, Rafe groaned, decidedly not ready. “Colin, can you get that?” 

Colin reached over and grabbed Rafe’s phone, then raised his eyebrows just slightly. “It’s just an email. Hey James, come check on the tailgate out back with me?” James grumbled but rose from the bed, following Colin out the door. “Can’t you boss around the pledges on your own?” 

The second they were down the hall, Colin grabbed James’ arm and hustled him down the stairs. James yanked his arm away, trying to smack him upside the head before Colin batted his hand away with a smirk. “What the fuck are you doing?” James asked. Colin grinned, holding up Rafe’s phone. “Sophie’s here.” 

“Ahhh.” James nodded knowingly and followed him out to the front door. Sophie glanced up from her phone when the two boys swung both the front doors open, flanking either side of the doorframe. “Sophie, hello!” Colin greeted her with a broad grin, waving her inside. She stood slowly from the porch bench, tilting her head slightly. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I remember your names…” 

James shook his head. “Nah, we haven’t met. But we’ve just heard so much about you from Rafe!” 

“Our roommate.” Colin clarified. “Come in, we’ll get you a drink! He’s still getting ready.” Sophie nodded and followed them both inside, making their way to the kitchen past a couple groups of girls there for the pregame. 

After a couple minutes alone upstairs, Rafe turned to check his phone on his own but couldn’t find it. He immediately cursed, figuring James and Colin were up to something, and allowed himself another glance in the mirror before rushing downstairs. After asking a pledge where they went, he found James and Colin in the kitchen with Sophie. She looked a little bemused as she accepted a White Claw from them, glancing around for Rafe. 

“Sophie!” Rafe called out across the room, making his way to them. His jaw was slightly gritted as he slung a tight arm around James’ shoulder, shaking his head. “Don’t believe anything they’ve told you, alright?” 

Sophie laughed, taking a quick sip. “I like your friends, they’re fun.” Colin grinned. “Hear that, Rafe? We’re fun.” Rafe grumbled, dropping his arm from James. “Yeah, yeah. Soph, you ready?” She nodded, giggling as Colin and James called out ‘ _be safe!_ ’ in unison behind them as they left the house. They fell into an easy stride outside, heading toward the stadium. Sophie reached out, lightly brushing her fingers across his hair. “Did you put something in your hair? I thought you ditched that in college.” 

Rafe blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah, just got kind of lazy with it. Why, does it look bad?” 

“No! No, it doesn’t at all.” She replied hurriedly. “Just haven’t seen it like that since high school.” 

“Oh.” He nodded, reassured. “Dunno, just wanted to look a little nicer to see your parents, I guess.” 

“It’s not like you have to impress them or something, they know you.” 

“Yeah, but I’m crashing your family weekend. I’ve got to make a decent impression.” 

“You’re _fine_ , Rafe, don’t worry about it. I mentioned you were coming to my dad and he sounded more excited to see you than me.” She laughed and he relaxed just slightly, but kept his hands shoved in his jacket pockets. “Okay, so. I gotta know how you ended up as such an…” He paused, searching for the words. “Such an outspoken, feminist environmentalist when your parents are so…” he trailed off again. Sophie raised her eyebrows. “Conservative?” 

He nodded. “Yeah, basically. I did not expect that golf debate from you, given that your dad probably spends 50 hours a week at the golf course.” She laughed, touching his arm for a moment. “I mean, I already had those ideals but college has helped. Education, baby.” He suddenly felt warm at the term of endearment, ducking his head down for a moment so she couldn’t see his blush. 

They kept up easy small talk until they arrived at a house just a street away from the stadium, packed with alumni and students alike tailgating. Sophie was greeted by several people almost instantly and gave them quick smiles before taking Rafe’s hand to guide him through the party to find her parents. He couldn’t help but grin. 

“Mom! Dad!” She called out, grabbing their attention as they came closer. She dropped Rafe’s hand but her mom didn’t miss it, giving them a knowing glance between the two. Sophie shook her head imperceptibly, making her mom just laugh. She gestured at Rafe, as if presenting him. “Mom, Dad, you guys know Rafe. Say hi.” Her dad grinned, shaking Rafe’s hand heartily. “Good to see you, kid. Your dad didn’t make it out?” Rafe shook his head but offered a broad smile in response. “No, not this year. Business stuff.” 

“Ahh, always working.” Her dad nodded knowingly, reaching into the cooler. “Well, no worries, you get to hang with us instead. “What are you drinking, Rafe?” 

“Oh, uh, just a beer, Mr. Flint.” 

Her dad laughed. “You called me Jeff all through your lessons in high school and now we’re back to formalities? Knock it off.” 

Rafe nodded, fully relaxing as he accepted a beer from him. “Sorry, habit. How are you, Mrs. Flint?” 

“I’m good, Rafe, it’s nice to see you.” She stepped forward, giving her daughter a hug and tugged on the end of Sophie’s tight denim skirt. “Sophie, could you have worn something shorter? You’re going to be freezing halfway through the game.” Sophie hid a grin as she took a sip from a beer. “Not if I’m drinking properly, Mom.” Her mom shook her head, letting out a big sigh but ruffled Sophie’s hair affectionately. “You’re still 20 for a couple weeks, child, remember that.” 

“Yeah, yeah. C’mon Rafe, let’s go find my brother.” Sophie excused them from the conversation, taking his hand again to wind them through the party. Rafe leaned in close as he followed behind, a teasing lilt to his voice. “I don’t mind how short your skirt is.” She rolled her eyes but was grateful she was leading him, as she felt a blush creep onto her face. “I don’t remember asking you.” 

She found her brother with some friends in the kitchen and knocked back the rest of her beer to help herself to another from the fridge. “Hey, Carter, you remember Rafe?” She kept ahold of Rafe’s hand this time, stepping into his side. Her brother, Carter, looked over the two of them with a wary eye. “Course I do. How’ve you been, Cameron?” His tone was friendly, but Rafe could tell otherwise from his stiff posture. “I’m good. Soph told me you’re in grad school here? What are you studying?” 

“Soph told you, huh?” Carter repeated, emphasizing the nickname and shooting Sophie a glance, unreadable to Rafe. She rolled her eyes as she watched the interaction and traded Rafe’s empty beer can for a new one. “I’m getting my master’s in civil engineering. You? How’d you end up here from the Outer Banks?” 

“Thought I’d look for something different than what I was used to. And there’s a good business program here.” Rafe responded, thanking Sophie quietly for the new drink. 

“Hm.” Carter replied curtly and Rafe was reminded in the moment of how much he resembled Sophie, especially when she made a point to argue with him. His lips turned up in an amused smile. “Something funny, Cameron?” Carter asked, breaking Rafe’s reverie. “Huh? No, just thinking.” Sophie shook her head. “Stand down, Carter. Rafe, let’s go find someone more entertaining.” She grinned at her brother as she took Rafe’s hand again, leading him away. 

“I don’t think he likes me too much.” Rafe mentioned as they made their way to the front porch. Sophie hopped up on the porch railing to face him. “He’s just protective. He’s not very friendly to any guy I introduce him to.” She took a drink, watching Rafe smirk, then shook her head quickly. “Not that you’re - I mean, you’re not -” 

Rafe laughed and leaned forward, placing both hands on either side of her on the railing. It was friendly, maybe with a hint of flirting, but Sophie shivered all the same. “You’re fine, Flint, I know what you mean. When are we heading over to the game?” 

“Soon. I want another drink first though, I know the rules better when I’m not sober.” She tilted back her head to catch the last couple drops from her can, trying her best to ignore his steady gaze. He laughed. “That makes zero sense.” She ran her tongue over her lips subconsciously. “It makes sense to me.” 

“Uh huh.” Rafe leaned back just enough to finish his beer like her. “There’s twenty minutes to kickoff, how about we grab one more and head over?” 

Sophie took the opportunity to hop down from the railing, nudging him aside with a hand on his chest. “Bet I can shotgun faster than you.” 

“Is that a challenge?” He raised his eyebrows and took her empty can, tossing them both. 

“Always, Cameron.” She grinned, grabbing two drinks for them from a cooler. Rafe wrinkled his nose as he accepted the drink. “White Claw, Soph, really?” She took out her key and stabbed the can, then handed it over to him. “What, can’t handle it? Would you prefer a piss-warm beer?” He scowled and stabbed the can too, bringing it to his lips. “Ready?” 

“Ready.” They popped the tab at the same time and kept eye contact as they chugged, Rafe stepping away as Sophie tried stepping on his toe to distract him. He finished moments before her and threw down his can triumphantly, raising his hands in victory. “Ha! Beat you!” Sophie groaned and grabbed new cans right away. “Rematch.” 

“Don’t be a sore loser.” Rafe teased, but took the can anyways. 

“Don’t be so proud about finishing first.” Sophie shot back with a proud smirk. 

He laughed, loud. “That’s a good one. Just one more, yeah?” 

“Yeah, I’ll win and we can call it good.” 

He grinned. “You’re cute when you’re persistent.” She wrinkled her nose. “Fuck off.” He just laughed again and stabbed both their cans, then lifted his to his lips. “Ready to lose?” Sophie responded by popping her tab just quick enough to give her a tiny head start. She finished just before him this time, dropping her can - but a shot’s worth of alcohol dripped out onto the porch, betraying her. “You cheated!” Rafe pointed out, grabbing up the can and pointing out the evidence. She blushed but crossed her arms, lifting her chin. “Did not. That’s...condensation.” 

“It’s okay, Soph, just say I’m better.” He smirked. 

“Except you’re not, and I never lie.” She retorted. 

“You’re turning red.” 

“I’m not.” 

“You’re lying again.” 

She huffed, folding her arms across her chest. “Thank you for reminding me why I hate you.” 

At that moment, her parents walked out from the house, her dad laughing as he caught the last of Sophie’s words. “There’s the Rafe and Sophie I know. I thought you were being too nice.” Her mom tutted, elbowing her dad’s side. “Are you two ready for the game?” Sophie bent down to pick up the cans from the porch and throw them away, wobbling slightly when she stood up too quickly and plastered on a smile for her mom. “Yes, we’re ready.” 

Rafe grinned, catching her elbow to keep her steady. “Didn’t peg you as a lightweight, Soph.” He murmured, so only she could hear. “It’s the heels.” She replied lamely, gesturing to her boots. “You’re underage, Sophie. Don’t be a bad influence.” Her mom reminded her, starting off with her dad toward the stadium. Sophie and Rafe followed close behind and he laughed at her mom’s sentiment. 

They were pretty engrossed throughout the game, Rafe enjoying her family’s company. He was caught off guard a couple times by her dad slinging an arm around him in celebration after a touchdown, or her mom reaching over for a high-five, but gradually grew more comfortable. Sophie took several opportunities to sneak him shooters throughout the game, trying to knock them back as discretely as possible even though her mom was just a few seats away. (Her dad participated in a round of shots when her mom left for the restroom at halftime.) The alcohol and lack of food went straight to her head, and by the end of the game, she was leaning completely into Rafe, her arm wrapped around his waist. 

“You’re trouble, Soph.” Rafe murmured to her, laughing at her obvious blush. 

“I’m just keeping the game fun. Poor Indiana has been getting blown out since the first quarter.” She rested her head on his shoulder and he cleared his throat, reminding himself this was only because she was drunk. “Ready to go?” Sophie shivered, crossing her arms. “Yeah, fine. To the bars?” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and rubbed her arm, trying to warm her up. “I don’t know about that, I think you need some food.” 

“Rafe, are you joining us for dinner?” Her mom interrupted them with a friendly smile. “Um, no, I don’t want to intrude. I really appreciate you letting me hang around for most of the day though, I had a lot of fun.” He countered quickly, moving Sophie to stand upright. She let out a quiet whine and he dug his fingers just slightly into her shoulder. “You’re welcome to join if you’d like.” Her dad replied, giving Rafe a second chance. 

“No, no, it’s alright. I’m going to catch up with my friends, thank you though.” He denied the offer again. “I’ll see you in class, yeah Soph?” 

She patted his cheek with a dopey smile. “See you in class, buddy.” 

Rafe grinned, shaking his head before he turned away to walk home on his own. “Call me if you want a ride later. It was good to see you both!” He waved goodbye to her parents, walking away. 


	7. Chapter 7

_“You’re trouble, Soph.” Rafe murmured to her, laughing at her obvious blush._

_“I’m just keeping the game fun. Poor Indiana has been getting blown out since the first quarter.” She rested her head on his shoulder and he cleared his throat, reminding himself this was only because she was drunk. “Ready to go?” Sophie shivered, crossing her arms. “Yeah, fine. To the bars?” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and rubbed her arm, trying to warm her up. “I don’t know about that, I think you need some food.”_

_“Rafe, are you joining us for dinner?” Her mom interrupted them with a friendly smile. “Um, no, I don’t want to intrude. I really appreciate you letting me hang around for most of the day though, I had a lot of fun.” He countered quickly, moving Sophie to stand upright. She let out a quiet whine and he dug his fingers just slightly into her shoulder. “You’re welcome to join if you’d like.” Her dad replied, giving Rafe a second chance._

_“No, no, it’s alright. I’m going to catch up with my friends, thank you though.” He denied the offer again. “I’ll see you in class, yeah Soph?”_

_She patted his cheek with a dopey smile. “See you in class, buddy.”_

_Rafe grinned, shaking his head before he turned away to walk home on his own. “Call me if you want a ride later. It was good to see you both!” He waved goodbye to her parents, walking away._

Later that night, around 11, Rafe’s phone went off with several messages. He was surprised to see they were from Sophie, of all people. (He shouldn’t have been that surprised, given the way she was leaning on him earlier.) 

Sophie: _hiiiiii_

_We need to hang_

_Like for real_

_I don’t hate you you know that right_

Rafe: _You good?_

Sophie: _totally_

She sent a voice message, on accident. It was mainly 30 seconds of background noise of the party, but at the end, Rafe could just barely make out a male voice saying “you’re not talking to him again, are you? You’re drunk, be careful.” 

He texted again. 

Rafe: _Whatcha up to_

Sophie: _Drinking come drink drink_

Rafe: _I’m not sure if that’s a good idea_

Sophie: _Come hang_

_*sends her location*_

After about 30 seconds of debating, Rafe let his laptop fall shut and stood, abandoning his post in the study room. Colin, the only other boy in the fraternity dedicated enough to study on a Saturday night, lifted his head from his math homework. (It wasn’t Rafe’s top choice either, but it was a solid distraction from parent’s weekend and his painfully obvious lack of family present.) “Hey, wait, where are you going?” 

Rafe was already checking over his reflection in the mirror, trying to fix his hair. “Uh...Sophie asked me to meet her at some party.” He didn’t dare make eye contact with Colin, feeling the smirk bore into the back of his head. After a few moments of unbearable silence, he spun back around. “Fine, just say it.” 

Colin laughed. “I wasn’t gonna say a thing. You’re going to change, right?” 

Rafe groaned, glancing down at his worn t-shirt and basketball shorts he had changed into after the football game. “Do I need to? I don’t want to make her think I’m like, dressing up for her or whatever. I just want to drink.” 

“Uh huh. Go change. And don’t get too drunk, you’re still coming to brunch with me and James’ parents tomorrow.” Colin waved him off and Rafe gave him a grateful nod before leaving the study room and jogging up the stairs to their room. He pulled out the clothes he had on earlier from his laundry basket, sniffing them quickly before tugging them on. He grabbed his keys, glanced over himself once in the mirror, then headed out.

Rafe double checked her location before parking and walking up to a house with people spilling out of it, music blasting from the inside. He wasn’t sure he could handle drunk Sophie being touchy again and hoped to god she had sobered up a little bit - a naive hope, considering the way she was texting. As he made his way inside, Carter saw him right away and clapped an unfriendly hand on his shoulder, squeezing tighter than necessary. “What are you doing here, Cameron?” 

“Uh, Soph - er, Sophie invited me.” Rafe explained, shrugging Carter’s hand away and glancing around the packed living room. He placed the warning voice in Sophie’s voice message now, nodding slightly in recognition. “You seen her?” 

“Yeah.” Carter answered, completely unhelpful and stared him down as he took a sip from his cup. 

Rafe laughed, a little wary. “Right. I’ll go find her, then, nice seeing you.” 

“Watch yourself, Cameron.” Carter raised his eyebrows slightly and Rafe nodded again, rolling his eyes once his back was turned. He wove his way through the crowd til he found Sophie out in the backyard, looking bored as some guy tried talking to her. Rafe watched from a distance for a moment with an amused smile as she briefly entertained the conversation, then made his way over. “Soph, hey!” He called out, settling his arm around her shoulders once he reached her. 

Immediately a grin grew on her face as she turned into him, reaching up on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Hi Rafe!” He turned red right away, grateful it was dark. The boy excused himself quickly, catching the hint. “Oh my god, you rescued me.” Sophie smiled, hand on Rafe’s chest. He chuckled, taking the half-full can from her hand and setting it aside. “That bad, huh? How long have you been drinking for?” 

“I...umm…” She trailed off, trying her best to remember and shrugged. “I dunno.” He tapped her nose, grinning when she scrunched it up in a scowl. “You here alone?” 

“Yeah, Carter dragged me here. Everyone’s, like, old.” Her face lit up and she reached up, patting his cheek. “But you’re here! Can you drive? I would, but I think I might not be sober.” He took her hand from his face, placing it back at her side and laughed. “Maybe not. Do you want to go home?” 

“Yes please.” She took off, strolling around the side of the house to the front without waiting for him. He jogged after her, letting her lead the way - until she made it to the street, stepping out just as a car flew past. Rafe grabbed her around the waist, yanking her back out of traffic. “Jesus, Soph, careful!” 

She yelped as he grabbed her and pouted a little, crossing her arms once he set her safely back on the sidewalk. “Don’t yell at me, I’m fragile!” He sighed softly and nudged her aside so he was walking on the side of the street. “I’m trying to not get you squished. My car’s just down here, okay?” 

She took his hand, using him for balance more than anything as she struggled to walk straight. “Okay. Deal. I think you just saved my life.” 

He laughed, tugging her a little closer. “Just want you safe.” 

“Can I stay with you?” 

If he hadn’t been concentrating so much on keeping her steady, he would have stopped dead in his tracks. “What? With me?” 

“Yeah. Allie and Jules won’t cuddle with me. They say I’m ‘ _a hazard to society_ ’ when I’m drinking.” She reasoned, putting on a sarcastic tone with her last statement. He swallowed hard, debating how terrible of an idea this was. “Uh. Yeah, you can stay with me. James is staying with his girlfriend, so. I’ll take his bed.” The last part of his response fell on deaf ears. When they made it to his car, he made sure she was safely buckled before getting in himself. 

After the fifth time of him batting her hands away from the radio volume, he gave in, letting her crank some terrible pop radio remix from the speakers. He grinned as he looked over, seeing her sing along, and thought to himself - I could get used to this - then frowned as he remembered they would never work. Not as long as she was Sophie Flint, and he was Rafe Cameron, and they fought like twin flames. 

She didn’t miss his expression fall and reached over, resting her hand on his shoulder. “S’wrong?” 

“Nothing, I’m good. You good?”

“I’m incredible.” She beamed. 

He nodded with a soft smile as he pulled into the Delt parking lot. “Yeah, you are. Ready for bed?” 

“Or more.” Sophie smirked and Rafe let out a long breath, shaking his head. “Oookay. You’re drunk.” He got out and helped her out of the car, gently pushing her hands away as she went to grasp his hips. “I’m hardly drunk.” She protested, leaning up to kiss him and he dodged away, laughing as she brushed her lips against his jaw. “Sophie. C’mon, inside.” 

“Ugh, fine.” She stuck out her bottom lip slightly in an adorable pout, stomping a little as she walked into the house with Rafe. He just smiled to himself, ushering her up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, she tried pushing him against the wall, rising up on her toes to try and kiss him again. “C’mon, let me,” she whined as he ducked away at the last second so her lips caught his cheek. “No, you only kiss me when you’re drunk and I don’t like that.” He frowned slightly, placing his hands on her shoulders and nudging her away. 

She frowned back, reaching up to poke the corner of his frown. “You don’t like me?” 

“I never said that, Soph.” He corrected, then turned her around, steering her toward his room. She furrowed her brow but walked with his guidance, trying to figure out exactly what he meant. Once they were in his room he shut the door behind them and gestured to the corner of the room. 

“Here, you can have my bed, I promise I just washed the sheets.” Rafe offered. 

Sophie stumbled over to the only made bed as he followed close behind, trying to make sure she didn’t trip. “Are you gonna give me clothes?” 

“Clothes?” He repeated dumbly, watching as she hopped up onto the bed. 

“I don’t wanna sleep in a skirt.” She started pulling her shirt over her head and Rafe turned around quickly. “Right! Right. Um…” He rifled through his closet then stayed facing forward, tossing a shirt of his to her. After a couple minutes, she let out a quiet whine. “Need help.” 

“Help? Can I turn around?” He waited a moment, but when she didn’t respond, he slowly turned and laughed at the sight before him. She hadn’t even tried, the shirt collar halfway on her head and her arms weren’t pulled through the sleeves. He did his best to avert his gaze south as her skirt already crumpled to the floor. “Arm up, Soph.” 

She obliged only when he lifted her hand, pouting slightly. “Don’t laugh.” 

“I’m not laughing. Cooperate.” He grinned, tugging the shirt over her head and nudging her to pull her arms through. 

“You are laughing. I did it!” She cheered, flopping back onto the bed. 

Rafe blushed and pulled the blanket over her legs for her sake. “Good girl.” 

She sat up quickly - too quickly, grabbing the headboard for stability. “Say that again.” 

“What? No. Go to bed, Soph.” He laughed, pulling his polo over his head and tossing it in his laundry. He hesitated briefly before pulling on a pair of basketball shorts over his boxers and she frowned, reaching out. “No, Rafe, c’mere.” 

“No, I’m sleeping in James’ bed. You stay there.” He told her, moving to the other side of the room to get in bed. “No, come cuddle.” She insisted, patting the empty space in his bed. He paused, knowing it was probably a bad idea, but hauled himself out of bed with a sigh. “Just until you fall asleep, okay?” 

“Deal.” Sophie grinned, pleased, as he settled into the small space next to her, trying his best to not touch her. She leaned over right away and tucked the blanket over the two of them, resting her head on his bare chest and draping her arm across his waist. 

He had never been more grateful she was drunk, as his heart was threatening to hammer straight out of his chest. He rested a careful arm around her shoulders, gently scratching her back. “Go to sleep, Sophie.” He murmured. 

Her eyes had fluttered shut the moment he started rubbing her back. “You go to sleep, Rafe.” She mumbled back. He let out a low chuckle and she smiled to herself as she felt it rumble through his chest. “I will. Soon.” 

It didn’t take long for Rafe to fall asleep after Sophie did. Colin had crept in an hour later, and had to clap a hand over his mouth to not let out a loud laugh at the sight before him. He decided to be nice and backed out of the room, staying quiet - but not before snapping a photo and sending it to James. 

Sophie woke up around 4am, groggy and confused. She was cuddled into someone’s side, wearing someone else’s clothes that smelled oddly familiar. When she lifted her head to see who her strange suitor was, she almost gasped. “Oh my god,” she murmured to herself, resisting the strange urge to trace her fingers over his cheekbone. 

Rafe stirred just slightly, pulling her closer against his chest. She froze and he settled, still clearly asleep. Sophie let out a tiny sigh of relief and untucked herself from his side, slipping out of bed without making a sound. She turned bright red upon realizing her clothes were in a wrinkled heap on the floor, and hurriedly pulled on her skirt and balled up her shirt in her fist. “Phone, phone, where’s my phone?” She whispered in a panic to herself before snagging it off the nightstand and creeping across the room. 

After closing the door behind her, she let out a huge exhale, then escorted herself out quickly, thankful she only passed one drunk boy passed out on the couch in the living room as she left. “Fucking hell,” she mumbled, checking her dead phone. She cursed all the way back to the Theta house, shivering in the brisk morning air. Once she was back at her sorority, she snuck upstairs back to her room, hoping to get into bed without waking her roommates. Julia woke first at the door, sitting up quickly. “Where the fuck did you go?” 

Allie rose slowly at the sound of her voice, rubbing her eyes. “Soph’s back? What time is it?” 

“Shh, shh, go back to sleep.” Sophie chided hurriedly, fumbling around in the dark for a pair of sweats before climbing into her bed. 

“Hold up, did you shack with someone?” Julia asked, flicking on the lamp to see Sophie’s shirt. 

“Jules, please,” Sophie begged, shielding her eyes. 

Allie gasped, connecting the dots first. “Did you sleep with Rafe?!” 

“Oh my god!” Julia exclaimed. 

Sophie groaned, pulling her pillow over her head and turned to face the wall. “Leave me alone, I’m sleeping!” 

“Fine, but you’re getting grilled when I get up again.” Julia threatened, but flicked off the light. 

There was a brief moment of silence in the dark before Allie giggled. “That bad you had to leave, huh?” 

“Shut up!” 

_

“Get up fucker, how was your night?” James greeted Rafe the next morning, letting the door slam open as he strolled into their room with Colin in tow. Rafe groaned as he lifted his head, arm cuddled around his pillow in the space where Sophie was. “...Huh?” Colin laughed as James launched himself onto Rafe’s bed, narrowly missing his body. “C’mon, James, what the fuck!” Rafe exclaimed, shoving him away.

James grinned, socking Rafe in the arm. “Heard you had a guest last night.” 

“You weren’t even here last night...” Rafe frowned, then eyed Colin with an accusatory glance. “Traitor.” 

Colin raised his hands in defense, but wore a telling smirk. “You just looked so cute cuddling up with her, I thought I’d take a photo. For the memories, you know.” 

“Yeah, doubt she has any fucking memories.” Rafe grumbled as he hauled himself out of bed. “She was hammered, I picked her up, she asked to come back here and we fell asleep. That’s it.” 

“You know what they say. Drunk words are sober thoughts.” James pointed out. 

“James, last week you told me Helen Keller wasn’t real when you were drunk.” Colin argued. 

“She literally wasn’t, dude, there’s no fucking way.” 

“What the - there’s literally documented evidence!” 

“Shut up, you two!” Rafe tossed a pillow at James, effectively shutting him up mid-response. “Why did you get me up at 8am on a Sunday anyways?” 

“Right. We gotta leave in five, our parents want you at brunch.” Colin reminded him, eyeing over Rafe’s messy hair and shirtless state. “You should probably throw on a shirt. Brush your hair, maybe?” 

“Yeah, you look like shit. But we’re not done talking about this.” James added. 

“There’s literally nothing to talk about.” Rafe crossed his arms, a permanent scowl on his face as he glanced between his two friends. 

“Photos say otherwise.” Colin grinned. “Get dressed.”

“Why are you both so set on this?” Rafe frowned, tugging on a quarter zip and raking his fingers through his hair. 

Colin and James exchanged glances, quiet for a moment too long, before James shrugged. “I think you know why. Come on, we have to go.” 

Rafe finished getting dressed and followed them out the door, grumbling more to himself than anything along the way. “What’s that supposed to mean?”


	8. Chapter 8

Rafe showed up to class on Monday with more nerves than he ever had, unsure of what Sophie’s reaction would be. After having a long heart-to-heart with James and Colin (though he would never call it that), he had come to terms that maybe, just maybe, he liked Sophie Flint more than a friend. He was determined to try, telling himself he would be patient when she would try to argue like always and that he would give it a chance. For once. 

Sophie didn’t seem to get the memo. 

She barely greeted him, only offering a half-smile when she sat next to him - unusually late, only there one minute until class was meant to start. “Running late today?” Rafe elbowed her with a grin. “Guess so.” She shrugged, head down as she started scrawling into her notebook while their professor started teaching. He frowned, caught off guard by her cold demeanor, given that they were cuddled together in a bed just under 48 hours ago. “Just teasing, Soph.” She nodded, keeping her eyes down. “I know.” 

The rest of the class continued like that, Rafe resisting every single urge in his body to tear off a piece of paper and slide her a note. (She’d probably find it annoying, and it wasn’t middle school, anyways.) At the end of class, she didn’t even bother to pack her bag, just gathered her things into her arms and hurriedly left before he even had a second to say goodbye. As promised, he met James to walk to their next class together, looking completely lost. 

“How’d it go?” James asked Rafe with a grin, reaching out to knuckle his fist against Rafe’s hair. 

Rafe ducked out from under him and shoved his arm away, scowling. “Not good. She barely even looked at me, let alone talked to me.” 

“Oh.” James frowned. “Maybe she was just tired? It is kind of early.” 

“Nah, she at least smiles at me. Or have some smart comeback and she didn’t even try today.” Rafe rubbed the back of his neck, thinking about how she avoided him. 

“Huh. Text her and see if she’s okay.” James urged. 

“She probably wouldn’t like that.” Rafe hesitated, but took out his phone anyways. “I don’t want her to think I’m annoying.” 

“Then wait and text her later today. It’ll be fine, dude, don’t stress about it.” 

“I’m not stressed!” Rafe argued. 

James rolled his eyes and grabbed Rafe’s wrist, not letting go when Rafe objected and shoved up his sleeve. He inspected the peeling leather on Rafe’s watch band and dropped his arm, shaking his head. “You scratch up the leather on this when you’re stressed out. And those are new marks.” 

Rafe yanked his sleeve back down over the watch. “I didn’t think you picked up on that.” 

“Well Colin pointed it out first, but now I notice whenever you do it.” James shrugged. “It’s Sophie. She’ll come around.” 

“How are you so sure about this?” 

James shrugged again. “Like we said yesterday. You two are like, magnetic or some shit. There’s no way it won’t work out.” 

_ 

“He didn’t say a single thing to me all class!” Sophie exclaimed the second she walked through the door, huffing as the door slammed shut behind her. 

Both Allie and Julia lifted their heads from their work at their desks, completely unfazed by her loud entrance. She had recapped the events of the night (that she could remember, at least) yesterday morning over brunch, several mimosas, and they both had to talk her down from marching over to the Delt house right that second and asking for answers from Rafe. 

“Not one thing?” Julia asked, skeptical. 

Sophie flopped down dramatically onto the beanbag in the corner. “Well, okay, maybe a few things, but that was it. It’s like he didn’t even try.” 

Allie raised her eyebrows and shut her laptop. “What exactly did he say, Soph?” 

“He asked if I was running late, because, you know, I showed up later -” 

“So you wouldn’t have to talk to him.” Julia pointed out. 

“Only because he didn’t text me at all!” Sophie cried out, shooting a pointed glare her way. “And then he said he was just teasing and that was it.” 

“Did you give him room to respond?” Allie asked gently, trying to get her to see through her flawed logic. 

Sophie huffed, crossing her arms. “Probably.” 

“Oh, probably, that’s a solid answer.” Julia rolled her eyes. “Look, do you want something with him or not?” 

“I…” Sophie faltered, thinking. “I mean, maybe, but not if he can’t even text me after we slept together.” 

“Well how big is he?” Julia grinned. 

Allie reached across the desk, swatting her arm. “Jules!”

“What?!” 

Sophie groaned, covering her face as a blush bloomed on her cheeks. “I don’t even know, guys, I told you I can’t remember anything after we got back to his house. I just remember trying to kiss him and then I woke up in his t-shirt.” She gasped. “Oh my god.” 

“What’s wrong?” Julia frowned. 

“What if I was that bad? Oh god, what if I was genuinely so terrible that he literally never wants to talk to me again? I can’t really walk when I’m drunk, so I’m probably not even good at fucking -” 

“Stop, stop!” Allie laughed, throwing a pencil at her from across the room. “I don’t want to hear the details. Are you even sure you hooked up?” 

“Yeah, why else would I be wearing his shirt?” Sophie reasoned. Her phone chimed and she froze, holding it up. “It’s Rafe. Should I open it?” 

“Yes, stupid, open the text!” Julia exclaimed, scooting her chair closer to see the phone. 

“Be nice!” Sophie scowled, unlocking her phone - and her jaw dropped. “Oh no.” 

“You are so dramatic.” Allie giggled, walking over to see. “What’d he say?” 

“Um...I might have made a mistake.” Sophie groaned, turning her phone to show two texts from Rafe yesterday, and one that had just been sent. 

Rafe, 8:30am Sunday: _Everything okay? You didn’t need to leave_

Rafe, 4pm Sunday: _Hope you’re feeling alright today_

Rafe, 10:15 Monday: _Are you okay?_

Julia snorted. “Way to leave him on read, Soph.” 

“Jules.” Allie chided, frowning. 

“This is bad, isn’t it.” Sophie bit her lip, embarrassed. 

“It doesn’t look great.” Allie admitted. “But hey! He still checked in on you just now! You can make up for ignoring him.” 

“It wasn’t on purpose!” Sophie defended, already typing back a message. 

“Wait, don’t look too eager.” Julia tried grabbing at the phone and Allie swatted her hands away. “Don’t listen to her, you’ve been playing hard to get for two and a half years. Eager is fine.” Sophie paused, glancing between the two of her friends, then sent the text. “Al, if I regret this, I’m blaming you.” Allie rolled her eyes. “I’d expect nothing less.” After a moment’s pause with bated breath, her phone chimed again and she grinned, turning the phone away to hide the screen. “Okay, okay, you two can go back to studying.” 

Julia laughed, moving away with Allie. “Don’t forget to be nice for once.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Sophie stuck out her tongue at Julia, but smiled anyways.

Sophie: _yeah I’m good, just tired. sorry I didn’t see your other two texts_

Rafe: _I was beginning to think you were ignoring me haha_

Sophie: _no of course not_

Rafe: _Good_

Rafe: _Do you want to come study at the house tomorrow night? We can be in the formal room it just seems silly to go all the way to the library when we live so close_

Sophie: _what do we have to study for?_

Rafe: _Tomorrow’s Tuesday, did you forget about our running study date lol_

Sophie: _date huh_

Rafe: _You know what I mean_

Sophie: _yes I’d love to come over, I’ll see you at the same time_

Once Rafe got Sophie’s final reply, he liked the message then let out a sigh of relief. He hadn’t paid attention to a single thing in his economics lecture, focusing more on texting Sophie and her responses. As their professor dismissed the class, Rafe shut his laptop with a grin, turning to Colin. “Can I -”

“Yes, you can have my notes.” Colin rolled his eyes, walking out with Rafe. “You texting Sophie the whole time?” 

“Yeah, she replies slow - wait, how’d you know?” 

Colin laughed. “You were grinning like an idiot at your computer during the whole lecture, and you hate this class.” 

“Oh.” Rafe tried his best to fight the smile on his face, then shrugged. “We have a date tomorrow.” 

“Really, you actually asked her out? Good on you, man,” Colin said. “Well.” Rafe hedged, rubbing his neck. “Not exactly. She’s just coming over for when we usually study for our class together.” Colin groaned and shoved Rafe’s arm. “That’s not a date, idiot. Do better.” 

“I gotta take it slow!” Rafe protested.

“You’ve had your time taking it slow. Make a real move for once.” Colin said, shaking his head. 

_ 

Sophie showed up to the Delt house dressed a little nicer than usual, just enough so Rafe would notice, in a sweater and a skirt. She was more nervous than ever, fidgeting with the ends of her hair as she waited on the front porch. Rafe hustled down the stairs the second he got her text, greeting her at the door with a huge grin. “Soph, hey!” He glanced over her appearance, immediately regretting his t-shirt and sweatpants attire. 

His grin put her at ease and she relaxed, following him into the house. “Got a hot date after this or something?” He teased, leading her to the formal room where a few other boys were out studying. “And what if I do?” She challenged, taking a seat opposite him at a table. He raised his eyebrows, trying his best to not show any sign of disappointment. “Do you?” 

She blushed a little but kept his gaze. “I - no. I had a presentation for class.” She lied, embarrassed she had even tried so hard. “You look good.” Rafe paused. “Really good.” Sophie bit back a smile, shaking her head a little. “Thank you. Um, we should study, I don’t want to keep you busy for too long.” She slid out her notebook, showing him a few pages of meticulous notes for their debate topic. 

His notes, albeit messy, rivaled hers. “You actually prepared.” She said, impressed as she flipped through the pages. He frowned a little. “I’ve been prepared every time. I’m not gonna let you down, Soph.” The words held more meaning than just talking about the group project and she did her best to ignore it, nodding as she skimmed over his notebook. She paused, finger on a small note scribbled in the margin. “You wrote down my coffee order?” 

Rafe blushed, embarrassed, and snagged back the notebook. “Well yeah, I had to remember it somehow.” 

“That’s sweet.” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Less about us, more about the ethics of time travel.” He flipped to a fresh page, ready to take down more notes. The two kept up easy conversation for a while, not noticing the time passing as they worked. When Sophie realized she’d been there for over an hour and the conversation was still surprisingly dry, given what had transpired on Saturday, she reached across the table and snapped Rafe’s book shut. 

“Look, we should just talk about it.” 

“It?” Rafe repeated, raising his eyebrows cluelessly. 

“You know.” Sophie hinted, then huffed when he just looked more confused. “You’re gonna make me say it? Fine. Okay, since we slept together, you haven’t - what the fuck are you smiling for!” She scowled, crossing her arms. 

He was grinning ear-to-ear but leaned back in his chair, clearly amused. “Sorry, sorry go on.” 

“This isn’t funny, Cameron.” 

“That’s Mr. Cameron to you.” He teased. 

She ignored him, rolling her eyes. “Since we slept together you haven’t said a single thing about it. And whatever, I know I was drunk, but if I was really that bad -“

Rafe couldn’t keep the act up anymore and started cracking up, hardly able to keep eye contact. He doubled over, almost wheezing as he laughed.

“It’s not funny!” Sophie hissed, embarrassed as his loud laughter drew attention from boys walking by. 

He swiped his hand across his eyes, shaking his head as he let out a few more chuckles. “Soph, we didn’t sleep together. Not like that.” 

Sophie frowned and it was her turn to be confused. “Wait, _what_?” 

“You called me when you were drunk, I picked you up and you wanted to come back here, then you asked for clothes to change into to sleep.” A small blush crept up his neck and he looked a little shy. “Then, um, you asked me to come cuddle but I accidentally fell asleep when you did. And I woke up and you were gone.” 

She sat back in her chair, reeling as she processed this new information. “I didn’t sleep with you.”

“Not in anything other than the literal sense, no.” 

“Oh.” 

“See? Nothing to worry about. You were drunk, I wouldn’t have - you know. I just wanted you safe.”

At those words, she remembered him saying them that night. “And you practically saved my life.” 

Rafe paused. “Huh? I mean, you almost stepped out into traffic. But wait, you were hammered, how do you remember that?” She rolled her eyes. “I remember practically everything even when I’m drinking, what do you mean?” 

“Practically everything…” he repeated, slowly. She could practically see the wheels turning in his head at her confession. His jaw dropped. “So you lied! About our first kiss!” 

“I...yeah.” Trapped in her lie, Sophie winced. “I don’t know why. I’m sorry, I just didn’t want you to think I go around letting just anyone kiss me when I’m drunk.” 

Rafe laughed, shaking his head. “You kissed me, Sophie Flint. Not the other way around.” She scowled at the name. “Oh, not the full name now, you’re making it sound like I’m in trouble.” He hesitated, glancing down at his notes before looking back up at her. “Why’d you lie?” 

“I was nervous.” She admitted, biting her lip. “Maybe I thought you’d think less of me or something, I don’t know.” He softened, reaching out across the table to take her hand. She let him, brain fogging over as he rubbed gentle circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. “I’d never think that, Soph.” She took a moment too long to reply, distracted by his touch. “Okay. Good.” 

“Should we finish?” He asked, not letting go of her hand. She was the first to let go, reluctantly pulling her hand back to her book. “Yeah. Um.” Sophie blushed, flipping through a few pages randomly to give her a moment to think. “Page 54, yeah?” 

_

The second Rafe waved goodbye to Sophie and let the door shut behind her, James and Colin practically ambushed him in the foyer. They had been ‘studying’ in the corner of the formal room, not-so-subtly giving Rafe multiple winks and thumbs up from behind Sophie’s back as they tried eavesdropping on their entire conversation. James clapped Rafe on the shoulder, grinning. “Ask her out yet?” 

“No.” Rafe responded, still confused from their conversation. They had gotten nowhere, yet they had also gotten...somewhere? “I held her hand.” 

“For two seconds.” Colin rolled his eyes. 

“Still something!” James interjected, ever-positive. “But dude, if you want something, you actually have to make a move. Like…” He pretended to lean in with puckered lips and Rafe shoved his head away, rolling his eyes. “I know, dude. I gotta take it slow.” 

“You keep saying that.” Colin pointed out. “When are you actually going to do something about it?” Rafe scowled. “Get off my back.” 

_

She couldn’t do it. She really couldn’t. 

Every single bone in her body wanted to just give in, be nice to Rafe, see if they could be a thing. But that would require letting someone in, being vulnerable, and Rafe Cameron of all people was not who she could do that with. (At least that’s what she told herself.) She could feel herself falling for him, and that freaked her out. 

Their study dates had gone from once a week at the library to twice a week at the Delt house. Never at Theta, she wasn’t prepared for the rumors that would fly and hearing girls speculate about a possible relationship. The reality check for her came when Julia called her out for waking up early for class just so she could put on a little extra makeup or make sure her hair wasn’t just thrown in its usual ponytail. “ _If you like him, just say something_.” Allie had encouraged her, trying to give her the push she needed. Sophie resisted, as usual. “ _There’s nothing between us.”_

They really only needed thirty minutes, max, to knock out their prep for their debate class, but Sophie found herself stretching out the time to an hour and a half, sometimes two. Rafe never seemed to mind, eager to keep discussing the merits of their side of the debate and to just see that spark in her eyes for a little bit longer as she spoke about something she was passionate about. 

Today had to be different. She set a timer on her watch the second she stepped through the doors at Delt, following Rafe through to their usual study spot. Sophie told herself she was only allowed to stay the thirty minutes, nothing more, and keep the conversation strictly to work. Maybe even be a little mean, if she had to, to push him away again. (It always worked before.) 

“How was your day?” He greeted her with his signature grin and she visibly winced, already feeling herself cave. She sat across from him and glanced at her watch. Twenty nine minutes. God. She could do that. 

“Fine.” She replied shortly, not reciprocating. 

He nodded, unaware, and tapped his foot nervously under the table. “That’s good. So I was thinking, if you wanted to, maybe, after studying -“ 

“I can’t.” She cut him off. “I can’t stay long, I’m busy. Let’s just get this done.” 

“Oh - oh. Okay. Sorry.” He apologized needlessly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s whatever.” Sophie dismissed. “So I was thinking we focus our argument on these three main points…” He tuned her out and just skimmed over the notebook she slid over to him, eyes tracing over the words but not truly reading any of them. Rejected. Huh. He didn’t even get the chance to get the words out, ask her to go get ice cream after. Maybe that would have been a stupid move anyways, considering it was the last week of October in Ohio and only forty degrees outside. Next time he’d think of a better plan, next time he’d -

“Rafe.” Sophie’s annoyed voice snapped him out of his reverie. He jerked his head up. “Huh?” She rolled her eyes. “God, were you even listening? Pay attention.” He resisted a frown, halfway paying attention now as she spoke. Did he do something wrong? He thought they were getting along, flirty even. Maybe he misread the signs. “What’s up with you today?” He asked, more concerned than irritated. 

“Nothing.” 

“Are you sure? Because your attitude seems like something.” He couldn’t resist pressing her buttons, just once. 

“I don’t have an attitude. Just trying to get this stupid homework done.” She snapped back. He raised his hands in defense, a little taken aback. “Whoa, chill. We can get it done, you don’t have to be rude.” 

Sophie softened, just a little, and glanced at her watch again. 23 minutes. Maybe she didn’t have to entirely be an asshole. “Right.” Rafe held her gaze for a moment, as if trying to read the thoughts running through her mind. “Okay. So I was thinking…” They kept a somewhat civil conversation, strictly related to their class, though Rafe could tell something felt off. She didn’t have the usual teasing lilt in her tone and he was too nervous to even try his typical flirting - his hand grazing against hers, or a sly comment here and there. 

After a few minutes of reading together from a new article on Rafe’s laptop, he spoke up. “Hey, Soph -” he started with a hint of a frown. 

“Sophie.” She corrected, keeping her eyes trained on the computer. 

Rafe’s face fell flat and he pressed his lips together into a thin line, nodding once. “Never mind then.” 

“What is it?” 

“I said never mind.” He repeated, shaking his head. 

The rest of the time was fairly quiet as they scribbled out notes for their arguments, sharing a relevant piece of information every few minutes. 

“Why’d you choose architecture?” Rafe asked after a few moments of silence, both of them reading over their textbooks. “Study, Rafe.” Sophie reprimanded him with a bored tone, keeping her eyes on her book ‘til she finished the page. He glanced over her expression, trying to decide if she was serious or not, then went back to his book. 

“I thought it was cool. I like seeing the way things work, how buildings are crafted. Everything has a purpose.” She spoke after a moment. 

He smiled. “That’s cool. I can tell you like it.”

“You hardly know me,” Sophie pointed out. 

(Not true. He could read her like a book after all these years, knowing exactly when she was about to snap. She could do the same.)

He frowned, feeling her putting up a wall, her typical defense mechanism when she didn’t want to admit the truth. “I think I do.” He argued, keeping her gaze. She rolled her eyes and broke eye contact first, dropping her eyes back to her book. 

He sighed, quietly, and returned to pretending to read. 

Sophie broke the silence this time. “Why are you studying film?” He looked up, a little surprised she was taking interest. “Uh…” he trailed off, trying to think of how best to phrase it. “Movies were always my escape. If my dad was busy with work, y’know, like usual, he’d just throw on a movie for me and my sisters.” He smiled, thinking back. “I’m pretty sure I have Hercules memorized by heart now.” 

“That’s cool. My favorite Disney movie was Robin Hood.” Sophie mused, scribbling a couple notes in the margins of her book. She tried her best to keep an impassive composure, although she wanted nothing more inside than to spend hours just talking about his interests and seeing the way he beamed when she was interested too. 

“I never really liked him. Didn’t he steal from people?” 

“Not really, he stole from the tax collector and gave the money to the poor people.” She pointed out. 

“Oh.” Rafe paused, not sure if he wanted to continue the argument. “System’s in place for a reason, right?” 

Sophie wrinkled her nose, annoyance creeping into her tone. There was something about his indifference that made her just want to reach across the table and shake some sense into him. “Not when the government is creating an illegitimate tax system.” 

He shrugged. “Dunno. Guess I never watched that closely.” 

“Well I’m right, anyways.” She declared, lifting her chin a little in a challenge. 

“It doesn’t matter anyways, Flint, it’s a _cartoon_.” Rafe replied, slightly exasperated. There it was - back to last names. For some reason, it made Sophie madder than ever. She hated the way it rolled off his tongue so easily, like he knew her by nothing else. 

“It does matter, _Cameron_ , it’s the principle of the thing.” She turned up her nose haughtily toward him, crossing her arms. She knew she was doing exactly what she shouldn’t do, chipping away at their already rocky relationship built on a foundation of uneven stone. “But I’m not surprised you wouldn’t care.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He retorted, mimicking her pose from across the table. 

“It means you’re a dick. Always relying on daddy’s money.” Sophie stood her ground, jaw set. The way she said it, it was too sure, too carefully crafted to hit just where it’d hurt. Casual, almost, as if it meant nothing to say that. Like she’d been waiting to use that line for ages. 

That stung more than he expected, even though he’d heard it before - just not from her lips. He shot his response back quickly, too quickly, and regretted the words the second they left his mouth. “At least I don’t have to work two jobs just to pay for college.” 

Her face turned to stone as she felt the heat creeping up her neck, threatening to expose her embarrassment. Sophie gathered her things quickly, carelessly shoving them into her backpack, then paused before leaving to look him straight in the eye. “That’s fucking low, Rafe, even for you.” She said quietly. The words hung in the air between them as she turned sharply on her heel and strode calmly away, trying to beat the tears on the verge of spilling over her cheeks. 

Her watch vibrated on her wrist just as she stepped outside, hot tears welling up in her eyes. Thirty minutes. Timed perfectly.


	9. Chapter 9

Rafe’s ears were ringing as he just sat there, frozen, and watched her pack her things and go. Once she was out of eyesight he blinked, finally coming to his senses, and scrambled after her. “Sophie, wait!” He called down the hall but she ignored him, letting the front door slam shut behind her. 

“Fuck.” He mumbled to himself, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes. 

Colin was just heading down the stairs and paused as he saw Rafe, concerned. “You good, man?” Rafe just shook his head wordlessly as he stormed up the stairs past Colin, shutting himself in their room. 

The fight hit differently from usual - before, she had been able to fling insults back and forth with no hesitation, no consequence after. They knew they had their limits and kept it fairly impersonal. Now that Sophie actually knew Rafe, she felt guilty. 

Later that night, Sophie was still pissed off - but she was more concerned with the momentary flash of hurt on Rafe’s face after her insult. She knew better than to cross the line about his dad. His insult wasn’t any better, but it didn’t bother her as much as it would have had it come from someone else’s lips. Maybe it was his way of matching her hurt, just throwing darts until one stuck. She knew the feeling all too well, as it was her go-to response. Fight fire with fire, flames threatening to burn each other alive if they couldn’t find a balance soon enough. 

Putting up an invisible wall only works so well until the other person can see right through it. 

_

“I fucked up.” 

Sophie entered the room with that announcement, teary-eyed as she bit her shaky lip. 

Allie and Julia were both draped across the couch and sat up quickly, pausing the movie immediately. “Come here, babe, what’s wrong?” Julia frowned, patting the small space in between them on the futon. 

Sophie crossed the room and sat, pulling a pillow to her chest. “I just yelled at Rafe.” 

Allie let out a quiet _oh_ and frowned. “I thought you were getting along.” 

“We were. But I just fucked it all up.” After a moment’s pause, she spoke again. “But he said some shit too!” She added hurriedly, as if it excused her behavior. 

Julia crossed her arms, wary. “Give us the rundown.” 

Sophie took a breath then explained the whole interaction in detail, clutching the pillow closer as she felt Allie and Julia’s disappointment from how she acted. “Soph…” Julia spoke softly, resting a comforting hand on her arm. Allie’s brow was furrowed, thinking of how exactly to respond. 

“I know.” Sophie huffed, frustrated. “I shouldn’t have -” 

“He seriously said that to you?” Allie cut her off. 

“Yeah, but. It didn’t sound like he meant it.” Sophie reasoned. “It was a pretty half-assed comeback.” 

“ _Still_.” 

“Look, that was shitty, I’m not excusing that. He needs to apologize.” Julia shook her head. “But so do you.” 

“I know. I feel awful. I could just...I could tell that hurt.” Sophie murmured, frowning as she thought about the way Rafe’s face twisted in disappointment, then how he had forced his face to be impassive in his pride. “Fuck, I just ruined everything.”

Allie shook her head quickly and wrapped her arm around Sophie’s shoulders, squeezing for a moment. “You didn’t. I bet he feels guilty right now too, just. Think about it, go to bed and talk to him tomorrow.” Julia hugged Sophie too. “It’ll be alright, Soph.” 

Sophie closed her eyes for a moment, keeping her eyes trained forward as she spoke quietly. “I really care about him.” 

“We know. I think he knows too. It’ll work out.” Allie reassured her, Julia nodding in agreement. 

_

After their conversation, Sophie promptly changed into her pajamas and headed straight to bed, despite the fact it was only 8 o’clock. Her culpability weighed on her heart so much, she felt like she was going to be sick. 

At the ring of her phone around 10pm, Sophie was surprised to see Rafe’s contact light up her screen. She rarely kept photos for her contacts, but had allowed him to set his own photo with a goofy selfie after one of their study sessions. It made her laugh most every time she saw it, but now she just felt wracked with guilt. She waited until the last second to pick up, hesitant.

“Hello?” 

“Hey.” Rafe responded, his voice a little gravelly. “Can I see you? In person?” 

“Is that a good idea?” Sophie replied. 

He let out a tiny huff. “Yeah. I’d like to see you. Just - meet up with me in between Theta and Delt?” He asked, knowing they were only a couple blocks apart. 

“Okay.” She gave in, just like she knew she would. “See you soon.” She pulled on sweatpants and shoved her feet into Birkenstocks, giving herself a quick once over in the mirror to ensure her eyes weren’t still entirely red and puffy from crying earlier. When she was satisfied, she headed out the door, walking toward Delt. 

Rafe did the same, walking toward Theta with a sense of purpose. After he had dissected every single second of the moments before in his head, he was prepared to face her and apologize - anything if it got them back to normal. 

He smiled once he saw her from a distance and frowned when she didn’t return it, coming closer until they were close enough to talk.

“Hey.” 

She nodded, noticing his voice was a little rough, eyes a little red. “Hi.” 

He frowned, deeper. “Soph, I’m -“ 

“I’m sorry.” 

They spoke at the same time, matching apologetic looks on their faces. Sophie laughed quietly, breaking the tension. He relaxed just slightly but kept his hands stuffed in his pockets. 

“Sorry. I interrupted.” She urged him on. 

“Ah.” He paused, trying to form the right words in his head, then continued with conviction. “I fucked up, Soph, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, that’s nothing to be ashamed of and you work really hard, it’s really admirable and that’s -“ 

“Okay, okay, I’m not gonna make you grovel.” She teased and crossed her arms, shivering slightly. He took notice right away and shrugged off his jacket, stepped forward and tried wrapping it around her shoulders. “Here, take this.” Sophie resisted for a moment, batting his hands away, but he was insistent. “Stop, you’re gonna freeze.” 

She sighed, pretending to be annoyed, but gave in with a small smile. “Thank you. And I’m sorry, too. I crossed a line and I shouldn’t have.” 

Rafe nodded, not at all concerned with her apology and was just grateful she had accepted his. “It’s alright. Thanks.”

“You’re not a dick.” She continued. “I shouldn’t have...I just shouldn’t have said any of that. I came in acting like a bitch, I don’t know why.” 

“It’s fine, Soph - Sophie, I don’t care.” He corrected himself, unsure after their interaction earlier. 

“Soph is alright.” She smiled at the nickname and pulled his jacket closer around herself. 

After a momentary pause, he awkwardly stuck out his hand for a handshake and she just laughed. “Don’t be stupid.” She stepped forward and slipped her arms around his waist. He was tense for a moment, then relaxed slightly, wrapping his arms around her and held her close for a beat. 

Sophie almost had to force herself to pull away, but kept her hands on his waist as she took a small step back. “Jesus, Rafe, don’t be so stiff. You act like you’ve never been touched.” She teased. 

“I’ve been touched plenty of times.” He shot back with a smirk, shoving her shoulder playfully. 

A wicked grin slowly spread across her face. “Your own hand doesn’t count, Cameron.” 

He laughed loudly, shaking his head. “Fuck off.” The otherwise crude insult was marred by his grin. All the tension fell from his shoulders as they traded insults in their typical way, like nothing had happened. They fell silent and she went to hand his jacket back, but he placed his big hands on her shoulders, keeping it in place. “Just - give it back to me when we have class. You’ll be cold on your walk home.” 

“Walk with me.” She suggested. She’d deny it, but her cheeks flushed as the words came out of her mouth, an uneasy feeling of anticipation in her stomach. Sophie offered her hand. 

Rafe was hesitant, but slipped his hand in hers, interlocking their fingers. She shivered again and he frowned, glancing over as they fell into step. “Cold still?” 

“Um, no. I’m good.” She gave him a shy smile. 

“You’re shivering.” He pointed out. 

“You make me nervous.” Sophie blurted out, then squeezed his hand gently, keeping her eyes trained on the sidewalk as they walked. 

“ _I make you_ \- you make me nervous!” He exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief. She stopped dead in her tracks, looking up at him. “Why?” 

“Because, I…” Rafe trailed off, grasping for the right words. “I’m afraid I’m going to do or say the wrong thing, and we’ll be right back to where we were.” He confessed. “And I don’t want to go back to just fighting.” 

She fell silent, taking in his expression. She felt dizzy in the best way possible, heart pounding against her chest. “Me either.” She murmured. 

“So...what now?” He was tense, almost afraid of her answer, and started walking again, urging her along. It took a second for her to follow in step. “...We’ll see.” Sophie decided. Surely he could feel her sweaty palms, feel the anxiety radiating off of her, but she didn’t dare pull her hand away. 

“We’ll see.” Rafe repeated with a hint of disappointment, shoulders slumping just slightly as he walked her to the front door of Theta and reluctantly dropped her hand. 

Sophie just stood there for a moment before shrugging off his jacket and handing it back, stepping close, close enough for him to kiss her, if he really wanted to. “Night, Rafe.” 

Rafe eyed over her lips for a split second, then decided otherwise. He didn’t know what came over him, but he leaned forward just enough to place a sweet kiss on her forehead. “Night, Soph.” Before he could regret it too much, he turned on his heel and headed off. 

She watched him go in a moment of temporary shock, lightly pressing her fingers to the spot where he had kissed her forehead. A fucking forehead kiss. Platonic at best. Maybe she had misread the whole situation, she thought to herself, then headed inside as he was out of sight.

_

The next couple of weeks were an awkward dance between Rafe and Sophie of unanswered what-are-we’s and quick touches, flirty one-liners and heated cheeks. With the first snow in the last week of October came ice, something Sophie was massively underprepared for as she shoved her feet into Converse for class as she hustled out the door. Rafe and Sophie successfully won their second debate together and they were both high off their shared energy, grinning as they walked out of class together. **  
**

“Are you heading toward the architecture building?” Rafe asked, turning that direction. He had grown into a routine of escorting her to her next class, even though she denied his help every time. “No, I’m headed home. My class I TA for is just a lecture today, so they didn’t need me.” Sophie explained, turning the other way. He grinned, matching her stride. “Great, I’ll walk you home.”

“You don’t have to do that.” She argued, more out of habit than anything. He shook his head, smiling. “When are you gonna learn that I want to?” Sophie didn’t have a comeback for that and just fell silent, smiling to herself. It only took a couple minutes for her to slip on the ice, grabbing onto his jacket to stay up. He caught her around the waist easily, laughing. “You’ve lived here for at least two years, you’d think you’d know to wear good shoes on a snow day.” 

She blushed, more at his touch than anything. “I was running late, forgot about the ice. I still don’t own snow boots.” He chuckled. “Spoke like a true North Carolinian.” Rafe extended his arm, crooked at the elbow, and she took it with a grateful smile. “My hero.” Sophie kept a hold on his arm even when they made it onto the snowy unshoveled sidewalk, where she surely wouldn’t slip. (Rafe didn’t mind.) 

He walked her all the way to the Theta front door, ignoring her when she protested as they walked past Delt. “I’m fine, I swear I’ll make it.” She argued and he just shook his head, tugging her along. “Can’t have my debate partner falling and leaving me to fend for myself.” When they made it to Theta, he gave her a quick hug. She responded by reaching up on his toes to place a quick kiss on his cheek, pretending not to notice his almost-immediate blush. 

“Thanks, Rafe!” She spoke quickly before heading inside quickly, before he could register the kiss. Sophie shut the door fast behind her and leaned up against it the second she was in, trying to control her racing heart. Maybe she was doing the unthinkable - falling for Rafe Cameron. 

_

As Sophie adjusted her leotard one last time, she smoothed her hands over her hips, giving herself a once-over in the mirror. “You look great, Soph, let’s go.” Allie encouraged her, standing from her spot on the bed she’d been waiting on for the last ten minutes. “Are you sure? I could still change, I have my costume from last year. I feel like it shows off too much of my ass.” She tugged up on the leotard. “Or my chest.” 

“You have every right to show off your ass, it’s your birthday.” Julia reassured her. “We gotta go, I promised I’d bring drinks to the pregame at the senior house so we can’t be late.” She paused and started rifling through her closet, then pulled out a half-empty bottle of Malibu. “But first! You are way too sober for your twenty-first birthday.” 

Sophie wrinkled her nose at the sight of the bottle, bringing up memories of the last time she was drunk off of it. “I thought the plan was celebrating next weekend? You know, because people have other priorities on Halloween?” 

“Not us people.” Allie grinned, pulling three shot glasses out from their hidden spot in her desk drawer. Julia bumped Sophie’s hip and filled up the shot glasses, taking her job seriously. “You deserve two birthday celebrations, Soph. Next weekend will just be more about you.” 

Sophie laughed but couldn’t help but grin back as she took one of the shots from their shared vanity. “I love you guys.” 

“Oh boy, she hasn’t even had the shot and she’s sappy.” Allie teased, clinking the shot glass against hers. “Happy 21st!” 

“Happy 21st!” Julia echoed as they all took the shots together. 

_ 

Two shots and three drinks later, the trio finally left the pregame for the house party. Sophie was surprisingly steady on her feet, drinking water in between every single alcoholic drink for balance. (Next weekend was for getting drunk, anyways. Tonight she’d just enjoy the buzz.) She shouldn’t have been so surprised Rafe was there, considering the party was hosted at a Delt senior’s house, but was anyway. 

Rafe greeted her a few minutes after she came in, giving her a grin and a friendly hug. “Soph, hi! Wonder Woman, huh?” She was a little caught off guard but hugged him back, giving him a once over to decipher his costume. He wore classic black frames, a black blazer over a white button down and jeans. “Since when did you wear glasses?” He laughed and just shrugged, then handed her a solo cup. “Here, I made you a drink.” 

Sophie took the drink, hesitant. “What is it?” 

“Moscow mule, your favorite. Oh! I almost forgot, happy birthday!” He beamed. 

She hid a grin in the cup as she took a sip, pleasantly surprised that he remembered - both her birthday and her drink order. “Thank you. Alright, I’m lost. What’s your costume?” 

Rafe placed the glasses back on and unbuttoned half his shirt to reveal a Superman logo, smirking. “Looks like we match, birthday girl.” 

“Oh my god.” She pretended to groan but stepped forward anyways, reaching up to mess up his neatly styled hair. He ducked away, but not before letting her mess with it for a second. “Hey! I thought the glasses might give me away.” 

“Didn’t I tell you I like your hair messy? And no, they suit you too much. But I like the costume. You look good.” 

Rafe rubbed the back of his neck, trying his best to ignore her first comment. “The glasses are real, so I’d hope they look good. You look really good, uh, in case I didn’t say that already.” 

It was Sophie’s turn to blush and she bit her lip. “Thank you. I’m gonna catch up with some friends, but I’ll see you later?” She asked, touching his arm gently. He nodded, grinning. “See you ‘round.” 

_

Hardly an hour later, Rafe had ditched the jacket and kept his shirt half unbuttoned to show off the Superman logo, not arguing when people commented on him matching with Sophie. He kept zoning out during his third round of beer pong with Colin and James, one of them adding a random girl to their game each time. James hit him in the cheek with a ping pong ball from across the table, pointedly. “What are you staring at?” 

Colin followed Rafe’s gaze to see Sophie cornered by a boy across the big room and nodded in recognition. “Make a move or leave it, Rafe.” James, obnoxious and louder than usual thanks to the alcohol, bounded over and shoved Rafe’s shoulder. “Go get her, man!” Colin immediately slapped his hand over James’ mouth, rolling his eyes. “Keep it down, stupid.” 

Sophie was making her way back to Allie and Julia when her ex trapped her in the corner of the room, giving her a hug that lasted a moment too long. They had ended on friendly terms, but Sophie always suspected there was part of him still pining. A few too many drunk texts from him had confirmed that. Rafe watched her from across the room - _just to make sure she was safe_ , he told himself, although his chest tightened at the thought of her flirting with someone else. After he watched her dodge a kiss, laughing awkwardly, he decided to make his move and strolled over. 

“Hey Soph.” Rafe murmured, dropping a kiss to her temple before wrapping his arms around her from behind. She leaned back into his embrace, surprised at how natural it felt. Too natural. “Who’s this?” 

She blushed a little, giving Luke a little shrug as he connected the dots with the matching costumes. She could hardly think with Rafe’s arms around her, the subtle smell of his cologne overwhelming her senses. (And she swore his hand grazed across her chest in the hug, but maybe that was her mind just making things up.) “This is Luke, my...um…” 

“Friend.” Luke supplied helpfully, extended a hand toward Rafe with an overly friendly, slightly forced smile. Rafe smirked and reached out to shake his hand, but kept one arm wrapped around Sophie. “Rafe. Nice to meet you.” 

Luke paused, then nodded as he puffed up his chest a little, not nearly reaching Rafe’s height. “You too.” He directed his next question to Sophie, raising an eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t like being called Soph?” She simply shrugged. “Only by a few close friends.” 

“Right.” He nodded again, eyeing Rafe and Sophie’s embrace with clear confusion. “How long have you two been…?” 

“Oh, we’re -” 

“A while.” Rafe cut her off, keeping it just vague enough so she wouldn’t be caught in a lie, not knowing when exactly she broke up with Luke. “Oh. Okay.” Luke frowned slightly. “I’ll see you around, Sophie.” He made a quick exit, and Sophie had to stop herself from closing her eyes and dropping her head back onto Rafe’s shoulder as she relaxed. 

“Who is that really?” Rafe inquired, brushing his lips against her ear as he spoke, not letting her go. After a moment, she turned to face him, loosening his grip on her just slightly. “My ex. But we’re friends now I guess, we only dated freshman year. He’s a good guy.” 

“Oh.” Rafe nodded. “Sorry, you just seemed -” 

“Bored?” She asked, amused. 

He laughed and reached up to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear. That gesture alone was enough to make her melt. “Yeah, a little. Why’d you break up?” 

She shrugged. “He was too nice.” 

He chuckled and dropped his hands from her waist, stuffing them in his back pockets. “Always seeking out the mean guys, huh?” 

“Nah.” She grinned, a knowing glint in her eyes. “Just like the ones that’ll fight with me.” With that she turned away, leaving him alone as she returned to her circle of friends. 

_

Late in the night, Sophie was a handful of drinks in - just enough to let her guard down. Rafe was the same, but he kept a watchful eye toward Sophie throughout the party. 

“He keeps looking over here.” Allie grinned, nodding her head in Rafe’s direction. Sophie kept her back to him but beamed, hiding a smile with a sip of her drink. “I know. I can feel it.” Julia glanced over and caught Rafe’s eye, then waved with a knowing grin. He smiled back but ducked his head away as he was caught. “Jules!” Allie scolded teasingly, grabbing her hand and pulling it down. Sophie just laughed, feeling warm and bubbly from the drinks and multiple birthday wishes from friends throughout the night. “Let him stare, I don’t mind.” 

“Your man’s got someone else on him.” Julia pointed out, glancing over again. 

Sophie wrinkled her nose just slightly. “Hm. He’s not _my man_ , per se.” 

Allie looked over too, eyebrows raising. “Yeah? He really won’t be if this girl keeps up whatever she’s doing.” A girl was hanging off of Rafe’s arm, obviously flirting hard with him while he entertained polite conversation. 

“You guys really shouldn’t encourage this when I am definitely not sober.” Sophie complained, tipping back the rest of her drink and scowling at the burn. “Well we’re not sober either, so.” Julia placed her hands on Sophie’s shoulders, turning her in Rafe’s direction and giving her a small shove forward. Sophie tried her best not to visibly react as the girl started twirling her hair, pouting when Rafe dodged her attempted kiss on his cheek. 

“Hm. That’s...interesting.” Sophie mused, suddenly getting nervous and turned back. “I need another drink.”

“Oh no you don’t.” Allie grabbed Sophie’s arm, dragging her back. “One more and you’re not gonna walk straight.” 

“That doesn’t sound like an issue.” Sophie pointed out, crossing her arms as she looked over at Rafe. He caught her eye and raised his eyebrows, mouthing help with a teasing smirk when the girl on his arm placed her hand on his chest. That was the confidence boost she needed to stroll across the room, pausing just a few steps from him. 

She cleared her throat and the girl leaning on Rafe glanced back, suddenly straightening up and stepping away as she saw Sophie and Rafe’s matching costumes. “Sorry, I didn’t know you two were together.” She giggled, still batting her eyelashes at Rafe. Sophie rolled her eyes, coming close and curling her arm around Rafe’s bicep, greeting him with a territorial kiss on the cheek that was a little too close to the corner of his lips. “C’mon Cameron, we need to talk.” Sophie told him, dragging him away and up the stairs, away from the noise. 

He grinned and followed along easily. “You jealous, Soph?” He teased, stepping close once they made it upstairs. She swallowed, pressing her hand against his chest to keep just enough distance. 

“Of course I’m jealous, don’t be dense.” She retorted. 

“You - what?” He furrowed his brow, not expecting that reply. 

She let out a dramatic sigh, starting to pace as she avoided eye contact. “God, Rafe, I’ve been trying to show you for weeks now how much I really like you, like it scares me how much I like you, and you can’t pick up on a single hint -“

Rafe was grinning ear to ear now, amused as she kept going on. “Soph.” He tried interrupting. 

She spun on her heel - too quickly, having to grab his arm for stability - and pointed her finger in his face. “No, shut up, let me talk. It’s your stupid smirk that drives me crazy and I don’t know why but there’s something about your hands that I’m really drawn to, and most days I can’t tell if I want to shove you or make out with you,” she paused to take a breath and Rafe took his opportunity, leaning closer. 

“Sophie.” His voice was firmer now, catching her attention. 

“What.” She huffed, keeping her grip on his arm. 

“Kiss me.” 

“Wait - what?” 


	10. Chapter 10

“Kiss me.” Rafe repeated, bringing his hands to her waist. 

“That’s all you have to say? Seriously, after I just confessed all that? You’re insufferable.” Sophie rolled her eyes but locked her hands behind his neck anyways, pulling him close. 

He laughed and stepped forward, backing her against the wall. He hesitated for just a moment as their lips were inches apart, wanting confirmation from her. Sophie surged forward, meeting his lips with hers. 

After a few heated moments, she pulled back a tiny bit, one hand now tangled in his hair. “You’d better not be fucking with me, Rafe.” She mumbled against his lips, breathless. 

He chuckled. “Never, Soph. I really. Really. Like you. Too.” He punctuated each phrase with a kiss, beaming as she grinned against his lips. 

“Did I say that? I don’t remember saying that.” She teased, tugging lightly on his hair. 

Rafe laughed lowly against her jaw as he kissed his way down her neck. “You’re lucky we’re at a party right now.” 

Sophie let out the tiniest moan, trying everything in her power to hold back. “Why?” 

He lifted his head, eyes dark. “Because I don’t know if I could control myself if I had you alone.” 

She fell speechless, breathing hard as she locked eyes with him. She steadied one hand on his chest, feeling a little weak just from his words. “...We should get out of here then.” Surprisingly, Rafe shook his head, giving her a sweet kiss. “No. I want to take you out first. On a proper date.” 

Sophie smirked and brought her hand up to cup his cheek. “You could take me out now. Get it over with.” 

He laughed and squeezed her side gently, grinning when she squeaked out in surprise. “It’s not something I want to just ‘get over with,’ Soph. I’m not just trying to get in your pants.” 

“Oh!” She beamed. “Good. We’re on the same page. Although I wouldn’t be opposed to you -” Rafe cut her off with another kiss and she promptly shut up, bringing her hands around his neck again. They kissed for what seemed like forever (but was only a few minutes) until a Delt senior came up the stairs, girlfriend in tow. 

“Upstairs is off limits, Cameron!” He called out as he passed them in the hall and Rafe and Sophie reluctantly broke apart. She giggled and took his hand. “My lipstick is all over you.” 

“Your hair’s all messed up.” 

“So’s yours.” She tugged him toward the bathroom and by some miracle, found a makeup remover wipe under the cabinets (probably thanks to the senior’s girlfriend). Rafe scowled as she wiped it over his lips but let her, only complaining once. Sophie groaned when she saw herself in the mirror, skin red at the base of her neck. “Rafe, seriously?” 

He just laughed and wrapped his arms around her from behind, tucking his head at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. “I think it completes the look. Matching costumes and all.” She reached over and flicked his forehead. “Uh huh.” He grinned and pushed her hair aside, pressing light kisses down the side of her neck. “Rafe…” she whined, but leaned back into his touch anyway. “I didn’t hear you complaining earlier.” He pointed out, nipping at the same spot he had already marked up. 

She let him continue until she let out an embarrassingly breathy moan, pressing her hips back against his, and snapped back to reality. “God, okay, stop, we are not doing this in a frat house bathroom.” He pulled away reluctantly, only stepping back when she pressed a hand to his chest - then smirked. “I mean, God works, but you can just call me Rafe.” 

Sophie groaned in annoyance, rolling her eyes. “Thank you, Rafe, for effectively ruining the moment.” She hid her grin as she grasped the handle of the door, going to leave. He grabbed her wrist and spun her around, pinning her up against the door and raised his eyebrows, looking down at her. “Moment’s still ruined?” 

She swallowed, blinking up at him. “You can’t tell me you want to take me on a date first and then do - do _that_.” 

His smirk grew wider. “Tomorrow at 10, I’ll pick you up for brunch. You and me, baby.” 

“Just ten?” 

He laughed and rested his forearm above her head, leaning into her. “I’ll let you sleep in.” 

She nodded slowly, trying not to show how much of an effect he had on her, although she was pretty sure he could hear her heart beating around 200 beats a minute. “You leave first.” 

“We can leave together.” Rafe paused, frowning slightly. “What, you don’t want to be seen with me?” He had meant it to come out as a joke, self-deprecating at that, but it sounded a tad too serious - too sad - to be taken otherwise. 

“No no no! Not that.” Sophie reassured him quickly, reaching up to peck his lips. “I just - I don’t want people thinking we just came up here and just hooked up, you know how rumors fly.” He dropped her wrist and combed his fingers through her hair gently. “Got it.” She grinned and fixed his tilted glasses, then nudged him toward the door. “Go make me another drink, I want to destroy you in flip cup.” He laughed and pressed a kiss to her forehead before leaving. “Coming right up.” 

Sophie waited a solid five minutes before heading downstairs, once her heart rate had sufficiently slowed and she pulled her hair to rest over her neck. Allie and Julia were both leaning up against the wall by the base of the stairs, wearing matching grins. “So?” Allie asked, teasing. “Yeah, how was your house tour?” Julia questioned, flicking Sophie’s hair aside to see her neck. Sophie ducked away, bright red, although she could hardly hide her smile. “Leave me alone, we didn’t do anything!” 

“Oh, that explains Rafe’s lips looking all swollen.” Allie giggled. “And yours.” Sophie shook her head, glancing around to see if he was nearby, then stepped closer and whispered conspiratorially. “He asked me on a date tomorrow.” Her friends barely kept their voices down as they squealed, bumping shoulders with her. Rafe strolled up a moment later behind Sophie, cup in hand. “Ladies.” He addressed them all, grinning when Sophie whipped around, pretending she didn’t just stumble slightly on her heel. Julia just raised her cup in response with a small smile while Allie nodded in acknowledgment. “Cameron.” 

“Mind if I steal her for a bit?” 

Julia rolled her eyes. “This isn’t the Bachelor, Rafe, go ahead.” She nudged Sophie from behind and Sophie sent both her and Allie a grin before heading off with him. Four games of flip cup later (because she lost after best of three, and insisted on at least being even), Sophie was giggling and leaning on Rafe and he was one drink away from dragging her down to the floor. James and Colin had been keeping an eye on the two all night, trying to make sure Rafe didn’t embarrass himself too much. When Rafe tried tugging Sophie to the kitchen for shots, James stepped in. “Alright, Rafe, we’re going home.” 

Rafe waved his hand at him, shaking his head. “No, no, she promised we could do shots.” Sophie nodded eagerly. “It’s my birthday, I deserve it!” Allie and Julia had stuck around and intervened, following them to the kitchen. “It’s 2 am babe, can’t use that excuse anymore.” Julia told Sophie, hooking her arm in hers and tugging her away from Rafe. Colin looked on, amused, as Rafe frowned and reached out toward her, trying to pull her back. Allie sighed, giving a small laugh. “Any chance either of you are sober enough to help get us home?” She asked, directing her question to James and Colin. 

“No, I got her.” Rafe chimed in. “I’ll take care of her.” 

“No, you’re drunk.” Colin insisted and pulled out his car keys. “I can drive. You’ll have to all squeeze in the back of my sedan, but. It’s a short ride.” Ten minutes later, they were finally all tucked into the back of the car, Sophie perched carefully on Rafe’s lap. She rested her head on Rafe’s chest, two seconds away from falling asleep, but Allie kept poking her to keep her awake.

“Hey, hey, hey guys. Sophie said she likes me.” Rafe announced proudly to the car after a few minutes of silence. Both the boys snorted from the front seat and the girls couldn’t help but giggle. “Christ, Rafe, how the fuck are you this whipped and you haven’t even kissed?” James asked, raising his eyebrows at him as he turned to face them. “We did kiss. Lots.” Sophie corrected him, mumbling. Allie reached over and patted her head. “Shh, Soph.” Sophie just curled closer into Rafe’s body, sleepy. “You like me too.” She murmured into his neck, lips ghosting across his skin. 

By some miracle, they got everyone home safe. Rafe reminded Sophie about their date tomorrow, approximately five times before Julia tugged her away and got her into the Theta house. “So. Good birthday?” Allie asked Sophie, hooking her arm in hers as they made their way upstairs. “The best.” Sophie grinned. “I love you guys.” Julia laughed, helping her get ready for bed along with Allie. “Only the best for you.” 

_ 

The next morning, Sophie woke up unusually early for the night after drinking, at 7am. She glanced at her phone and grinned upon seeing a text from Rafe confirming their date at 10 and shot him a quick text back. Her typical makeup routine consisted of five steps, and even when she took it one step further with eyeliner, she was almost completely ready by 7:30am. Too early. “Wake up.” Sophie hissed to her roommates. Julia either was fast asleep or ignored her, rolling back onto her side, and Allie barely lifted her head to shoot her a glare. “You had us up late last night. No.” 

“Please?” She pleaded, making her best convincing face. 

“No. Go for a walk or something.” Allie ended the conversation, pulling her pillow over her head.

Sophie scowled but obliged, quietly pulling on a big coat over her pajamas and shoved her feet into running shoes. Her usual method of easing nerves was a solid workout, but that wasn’t going to happen with fresh makeup. She slipped out the front door, headphones in, and enjoyed the peace and quiet that came with sleepy Sunday mornings in a college town. 

Rafe had done the same, kicked out of his room after pacing back and forth in front of his closet for too long. He wore gray sweats and a red Ohio State hoodie, cheeks flushed in the chill air. As she got closer, he furrowed his brow, waving to catch her attention. “Soph? Why are you up so early?” He called out. 

She smiled when she saw him, trying to ignore the butterflies that rose in her chest. “Couldn’t go back to bed. Um, you?” 

“I figured you’d be more hungover.” He teased, wrapping his arm around her shoulders easily in a quick hug. She leaned into his touch, staying maybe a moment too long. “I am, a little bit. The ibuprofen is just now kicking in.” 

“Ah. Makes sense.” He paused, then grinned. “I can’t lie, I had to take something too. Flip cup with you did me in.” 

“Yeah? Just flip cup?” She teased, raising her eyebrows. He just shook his head, laughing. “I like your pajamas.” Sophie felt a blush creeping up her neck and ducked her head down. “Didn’t think I’d be running into you this early. I have something nicer picked out for our date anyways.” 

“They’re cute.” He tugged at the snowflake print on her hip, his fingers ghosting over the exposed skin there, and Sophie had to resist shuddering. “Mmhmm. Do you want to - I mean, I’ll go change, but do you want to just go now?” She asked, trying not to sound too eager. “Ah. I would, but I have to make a stop elsewhere first.” Rafe told her. 

“I can come?” 

“No you cannot. It’s - well, you’ll see.” 

“Oh.” Sophie looked slightly deflated at his response and only perked back up when he leaned in to kiss her forehead, tentatively. “You’ll see _soon_. I promise. I’ll be out front of Theta at 10 on the dot, okay?” She nodded. “Okay. I’m excited.” 

He grinned. “Me too. Don’t catch a cold in between now and then, deal?” 

“Deal.” She paused for just a moment, then curled her hand up behind his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. He let it go on for longer than he should have, caught up in the way her lips felt against his, then pulled away, a little breathless. “Good morning to you too.” She grinned and dropped her hand. “Just giving you something to look forward to.” With that she walked away, leaving him staring after her, shaking his head. 

After picking Sophie up, both of them having changed multiple times before seeing each other again, Rafe drove them to the brunch spot. He was the perfect gentleman the whole time, insisting he open doors for her and offered his hand as they walked from the parking lot. She could practically feel the nerves radiating off him and normally, she would tease him for it - but she felt the exact same. 

The date went just as well as she could have expected and more. They stayed for two and a half hours until the waiter had to kick them out for more space in the small diner, Rafe picking up the tab before Sophie could even go to look at the receipt. “I, um. I got you a present, but you’ll have to come back to Delt to open it. It can’t sit in the car because it’s too cold, but. Yeah.” Rafe rubbed the back of his neck, nervous as he fumbled with his words. She quirked an eyebrow, giving him a teasing smirk. “Thought you wanted to take me out before you got in my pants?” 

His eyes widened and he shook his head quickly, turning to her at a stoplight. “No! That’s not what I meant, I seriously have a present for you, I -” 

“I’m kidding, Rafe.” She smiled, amused. “You don’t have to be so nervous, you know. I kissed you first.” 

“Yeah, you kissed me first and then lied about remembering it.” He pointed out, nudging her shoulder. She deflated slightly, frowning. “Point taken. I’m sorry for that, by the way. If I haven’t apologized yet.” He nodded, thinking as he pulled into the parking lot of Delt. “Look, Soph...honestly, we’ve said a lot of shit to each other over the years. If this is going to work, I think we need to just try our best to start new. Or we’re going to be apologizing every two seconds.” 

She nodded, extending her pinky. “Okay. Deal.”

He grinned and locked his pinky with hers, then pressed a kiss to their intertwined fingers. “Think of it like making up for lost time.” 

“That implies you’ve liked me for a while.” Sophie teased, falling silent when he just raised his eyebrows in response. “Wait, Rafe, what do you mean -”

He cut her off, shaking his head with a grin. “Alright, come on, you need to unwrap your present.” He hopped out of the car and got her door before she could, offering his hand as they went into the house. She was curious, but decided she’d table the conversation for later. Rafe led her upstairs to his room, cheeks only a little flushed as he ignored a pointed glance and grin from Colin passing them in the hall. He made Sophie sit on the bed, eyes closed as he rummaged through his closet, then picked up the present and placed it in her extended hands. 

“Okay. Open.” He crossed his arms, anticipating her reaction. 

She opened her eyes and smiled at the poorly-wrapped, oddly shaped gift in her hands. “Should I guess first?” She teased, going to shake it, until Rafe grabbed her hands quickly. “No! Careful, it’s fragile.” 

She furrowed her brow, confused, and started to unwrap it. Inside was a colorful succulent pot, with a small card that had care instructions written in Rafe’s messy scrawl. “I wasn’t sure if you liked plants - I mean, I do, I think they’re kind of cool - but if you don’t like it I can -” he rambled, nervous until she cut him off with a quick kiss. 

“I love it, Rafe, thank you!” She grinned up at him and held it closer, inspecting it. “I’m honestly not great with plants, but this is really cool. I love it.” He beamed, taking a seat next to her on the bed. “It just needs a space with good indirect light, that’s all. They’re easy. Promise.” Sophie set it aside and nudged her knee against his. “Is that where you went this morning?” 

He grinned. “Caught me.” 

“You’re sweet.” 

He rubbed his neck as his ears turned red. “Uh huh. Do you feel older and wiser now? The big 21?” She laughed. “Not quite. My hangover this morning would beg to differ.” He nodded sagely. “Happens to the best of us.” 

_

The next few weeks, they went on more dates, at least one a week, and saw each other outside of class at least three times a week. Their relationship transitioned from a slightly awkward one filled with hesitant touches to them being completely comfortable with each other’s touch, talking like they had been together for ages. Sophie always excused herself before it went too far, not wanting to spend the night or do anything too serious until they were official. But even when Rafe referred to her as his girl to others, he didn’t seem to get the hint, and didn’t think to define the relationship, officially. 

The week before Thanksgiving break, Sophie was in her typical position on the futon in Rafe’s room, legs draped over his lap. He had a hand curled around her calf as he read over his textbook, thumb rubbing aimless circles into her skin. “Hi, Mom.” She answered the phone, trying to tug her leg out of Rafe’s hand but he just tightened his grip, smirking as he kept his eyes on his book. She rolled her eyes and gave up, listening to her mom’s rambling. “Mmhmm. Yeah. Yes, I’ll bring that skirt. Yes, it’s long enough.” 

They were heading back to the Outer Banks on the same flight, after Sophie shot down Rafe’s idea of an eleven-hour road trip back home. Unlike Rafe, she was excited to be home for a little bit, to get out of the cold and see family. He usually stayed with a friend, since the frat house shut down over the week-long break, but Sophie convinced him to come home with her, promising she’d come to his family Thanksgiving dinner and keep him entertained. 

“Hey Mom, Thanksgiving is still just lunch this year, right?” She asked, glancing over at Rafe. He didn’t pay her much attention. 

“Okay. Can I bring my boyfriend?” 

Rafe’s head shot up and his eyes were wide as he mouthed _me?_ to her, pointing at himself. She grinned, keeping eye contact with him as she spoke into the phone. “Yeah, Mom, you’ll like him. Promise.” He beamed and slid his hand up her leg, teasing as he gently squeezed her thigh. She shot him a warning glare and he raised his eyebrows back. “Okay, Mom, I gotta go - no, he has a place he can stay in the Outer Banks - yes you know him -” She answered hurriedly, biting her lip when Rafe leaned close and tugged up on the hem of her shirt. 

“Oh my god, no, I don’t think you’ll guess in a million years.” She laughed when Rafe traced a finger across her exposed hips, flinching away. “I have to go but I’ll talk to you later - no seriously, I have to go. I’m, um, studying.” He laughed loud at that, shaking his head. She hung up and tossed her phone aside, giving him a look. “Think you’re funny, Cameron?” 

“I do.” Rafe grinned. “Girlfriend.” 

Sophie blushed, trying her best to ignore his touch as he pulled her onto his lap to straddle him. “That’s okay, right? I know we haven’t really talked about it, but we’re kind of doing everything but defining it, you know -” 

“More than okay.” He slid his hands to her hips and she beamed, satisfied. “Really want to surprise your mom, huh?” He asked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. She nodded, laughing. “She’s either gonna say I told you so or have a heart attack right then and there.” 

“Mm. Probably both.” Rafe slipped a hand under her shirt, tracing a finger down her spine. She shivered and leaned forward, kissing him hard. “Hey.” 

“Hey.” He responded, lips brushing against hers as he spoke. 

“You’re just mine now. Got it?” She grinned. 

“I've been just yours for a while, Soph.” He murmured, kissing his way down her jaw. She pulled away, raising her eyebrows. “What do you mean?” He paused, resting his head on her shoulder for a moment as he chose his words carefully. “I haven’t really been able to date anyone since high school. Guess I was just looking for someone else.” 

“Who?” 

Rafe laughed. “For a girl with a 4.0 GPA, you’re not the brightest sometimes.” 

She scowled, just as he hoped she would, and shoved his shoulder lightly. “Tell me.” 

“No. You’ll figure it out.” He promised, pulling her back in for a kiss. A few moments of kissing later, she pulled back with a look of recognition. “Wait, you were holding out for me?” He laughed, squeezing her waist. “There you go, genius.” 

“Aw, Rafe, you like me.” She teased, beaming. 

“Course I do. Girlfriend.” 


End file.
